September 19, 2015
Sikeston gains 334 yards, on the ground, in 28-21 win over Farmington
Sikeston dominated the time of possession against the Knights, holding onto the football for nearly 35 of the game's 48 minutes.
By Derek James - Standard Democrat
sports@standard-democrat.com
SIKESTON -- The Sikeston Bulldogs' double-tight offense has one primary purpose -- to control time of possession.
The offense did exactly that in a 28-21 SEMO North win over Farmington Friday night at Sikeston Public Schools Stadium.
Sikeston dominated the time of possession against the Knights, holding onto the football for nearly 35 of the game's 48 minutes.
The Bulldogs did it with a ground assault, methodically running the ball 63 times and only attempting two passes.
"We felt like going in that we were going to have to do that," Sikeston coach Kent Gibbs said. "We were really wanting to maybe go early with that and then go spread, but when we kept getting yards and getting yards and getting yards we stuck with it. We felt like that was our best option. Who knows, maybe next week we'll run the spread more and that'll be our best option."
But even with such a decided advantage on time of possession, the Bulldogs still had to dodge a furious rally by the Knights late in the game.
Sikeston held a seemingly comfortable 28-7 lead with 7:40 left in the game, but Farmington scored two touchdowns in the final five minutes to make it a one-possession game.
The comeback was thwarted when Farmington's final onside kick attempt was recovered by Sikeston's Josh Stinnett with 1:11 left and the Bulldogs were able to kneel out the remaining time on the clock to seal the win.
"It's a great win -- it's always tough to win in our conference," Gibbs said. "I thought there at the end of the game if we don't get a penalty we put them away and it's 35-14. On the flip side of that is (Farmington) didn't quit playing. They played hard, completed passes when they needed to and kept battling back. But all in all you've got to be happy that you get a win."
Sikeston (5-0, 2-0 SEMO Conference) established itself on the opening drive of the game, marching 63 yards on nine plays capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by Earnest Fobbs to lead 7-0. His run was set up by a 41-yard run on an option keeper by quarterback Nathan Hampton, who rushed for a career-high 61 yards in the game.
The Bulldogs stopped Farmington on its first two possessions, but an interception by the Knights' Michael Wright put Farmington in business at the Sikeston 39.
The Knights (2-3, 0-2 SEMO) put together a 10-play drive with quarterback Brandt Busenbark scoring on a 1-yard TD run to tie the game at 7-7 with 8:03 left in the second quarter.
Sikeston responded on the ensuing possession with a 14-play, 80-yard drive. Fobbs scored on a 10-yard sweep to the right and danced just inside the pylon to reclaim the lead for good at 14-7 with 2:41 left in the half.
"We felt that in the second quarter we gained some momentum," Farmington coach Erik Kruppe said. "We gave up that late touchdown but we still felt good going into halftime."
In the third quarter, after forcing a Farmington punt, Sikeston orchestrated a 16-play drive that covered 54 yards and ate up nearly eight minutes of clock. A 5-yard Fobbs run converted a 4th-and-4 which set up a 1-yard TD run by Justus Faulkner to lead 21-7 with 2:24 left in the third quarter.
After forcing another Farmington punt, Sikeston continued its rushing attack with a 62-yard scoring drive, using 11 plays before Fobbs hit pay dirt again with a 3-yard run to lead 28-7 with 7:40 left in the game.
"In the second half we weren't able to develop any consistency on offense," Kruppe said. "Defensively we couldn't get ourselves off the field and allowed Sikeston to pick up some steam and really start rolling."
With its back against the wall, Farmington, which had gained just 91 yards of offense through the first 40 minutes of the game, began to make its comeback.
It started with a 31-yard kick return and a facemask penalty against the Bulldogs to set the Knights up with good field position at its own 40.
Busenbark then engineered an 8-play drive, converting a 4th-and-8 in the process, before connecting on a 27-yard touchdown to receiver Brayden Krause on a spectacular diving catch in the end zone to cut the lead to 28-14.
Sikeston recovered the onside kick and was on the verge of running the clock out, but a personal foul penalty against the Bulldogs wiped out a first down run by Fobbs and eventually led to a punt, giving the ball back to the Knights with 1:55 left.
Busenbark needed just 44 seconds and six plays to cover 82 yards and put the Knights back in the end zone, hitting Krause for a 15-yard TD reception with 1:11 left to cut the lead to 28-21.
"When we're in those kind of games, number one we've got to get the onside kicks," Gibbs said. "Number two we know they've got to throw the ball to beat us and we've got to be able to make plays. On both of the touchdowns we had guys there ready to make plays. We just missed the ball. But we weren't out of position. We weren't quite getting as much pressure on (Busenbark) late as we needed to get."
But Stinnett recovered the final onside kick to preserve the win for the Bulldogs.
"One thing we've said all year to our kids is they haven't quit," Kruppe said. "They were down three scores and they continued to play and got it to a one-score game and were an onside kick away from having a chance to win the football game. We had the momentum at that time but we couldn't gather in those two."
Farmington gained 118 yards of offense in the final seven minutes of the game with most of it coming from Busenbark's arm.
In the game he threw for 141 yards, completing 10 of 16 passes. He rushed for 52 yards on 17 carries. Krause caught six passes for 106 yards.
Farmington, which had utilized a spread offense in the past, has gone to a flexbone option offense this season. But the Bulldogs limited the Knights to just 68 yards rushing on 26 carries.
"Sikeston always plays well defensively," Kruppe said. "They always fly around and they always play very hard on that side of the ball. It's not a surprise what they can do. They're physical and they can do some things."
Another aspect of keeping Farmington's offense at bay was special teams. Hampton recorded two touchbacks and routinely angled kicks and punts away from the dangerous Krause.
In his biggest game of the season, Fobbs rushed for a season-high 143 yards on 27 carries with three touchdowns.
It was a workman-like performance for Fobbs, whose longest run was a 17-yarder.
"This offense isn't made for big plays," Fobbs said. "It's made for three and four yards a pop. That's mainly what's in my head is never get tackled in the backfield and get my three and four yards and do my part for the team. I always like to see the big picture -- I hope I get more than four yards, but I set that as my minimum."
Fobbs' backfield mate Victwon Riley also had a big night, rushing for 114 yards on 22 carries.
"I'm glad that we have the double-tight with two good running backs so we can run the ball like that when we need to and run the clock like that," Fobbs said.
The Bulldogs finished with 334 yards rushing as a team, the most they've had since Week 1.
Farmington never could find an answer to slow down Sikeston's offense, but costly penalties against the Bulldogs proved to be an obstacle as they accumulated 11 penalties for 74 yards, many of which erased big runs by Fobbs and Riley.
"We were kind of our own worst enemy on some things tonight," Gibbs said. "We got pushed back several times with penalties and things like that. We just kind of shot ourselves in the foot a little bit."
Sikeston has defeated Farmington five straight times and has won seven of the last eight times that the two teams have met.
It's Farmington's third straight loss after starting the year 2-0.
The Bulldogs will travel to Poplar Bluff next Friday in another SEMO Conference matchup.
"This is a big win -- it's a conference win and a district win and it moves us closer to a championship," Fobbs said. "We have some momentum going into Bluff next week."
Farmington 0 7 0 14 -- 21
Sikeston 7 7 7 7 -- 28
First quarter
S -- Earnest Fobbs 2 run (Nathan Hampton kick), 7:25
Second Quarter
F -- Brandt Busenbark 1 run (Brayden Krause kick), 8:03
S -- Fobbs 10 run (Hampton kick), 2:41
Third Quarter
S -- Justus Faulkner 1 run (Hampton kick), 2:24
Fourth Quarter
S -- Fobbs 3 run (Hampton kick), 7:40
F -- Krause 27 pass from Busenbark (Krause kick), 5:14
F -- Krause 15 pass from Busenbark (Krause kick), 1:11
TEAM STATISTICS
F S
First downs 12 19
Total yards 209 334
Rushes-yards 26-68 63-334
Passing yards 141 0
Comp.-Att.-Int. 10-16-0 0-2-1
Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 7-45 11-74
Turnovers 1 1
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing -- Farmington, Brandt Busenbark 17-52, Gavin Duncan 7-27, Team 2-(-11). Sikeston, Earnest Fobbs 27-143, Victwon Riley 22-114, Nathan Hampton 5-61, Keshawn Ellis 5-15, Phayzun Fobbs 1-2, Justus Faulkner 1-1, Team 2-(-2).
Passing -- Farmington, Brandt Busenbark 10-16-0 141. Sikeston, Nathan Hampton 0-2-1 0.
Receiving -- Farmington, Brayden Krause 6-106, Michael Wright 2-23, Logan Dotson 1-7, Gavin Duncan 1-5.
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