October 31, 2015
Sikeston stuffed by Cape Central 41-12 to end season
"They're big, they're physical, they run well. They do a lot of good things. They're just a better football team."
By Derek James -- Standard Democrat
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SIKESTON -- It took a nearly flawless effort by the Sikeston Bulldogs to defeat Cape Central in Week 3 this season.
It would have taken a similar effort from the Bulldogs to pull off a second shocking upset in Friday's Class 4, District 1 semifinal rematch with the Tigers.
But this time there was no doubt which team was superior as Cape Central ran away with a 41-12 victory at Sikeston Public Schools Stadium to advance to the district championship game next week against Farmington.
Sikeston's season ends at 7-4.
It's the third time in four years that Sikeston's season has ended at the hands of the Tigers.
"They're big, they're physical, they run well. They do a lot of good things. They're just a better football team," Sikeston coach Kent Gibbs said.
The Tigers dominated every phase of the game, limiting the Bulldogs to a season low 110 yards of offense. The Bulldogs only had one first down through the first three quarters and that one came from a personal foul penalty by the Tigers.
It was a far cry from Sikeston's 23-19 victory over Cape Central earlier in the season in which the Bulldogs controlled the line of scrimmage and out-gained the Tigers 244 to 207.
This time it was Cape Central controlling things.
"Our defensive line has made probably the biggest improvement over the course of the year," Cape Central coach Nathan Norman said. "That was the difference. Our defensive line play shut them down."
In addition, Tigers junior quarterback Kway'chon Chisom, who was limited to 26 yards rushing on 10 carries in the first meeting, looked like a completely different player on Friday.
Chisom was an elusive menace all night for the Bulldogs, rushing for a game-high 118 yards, including a 35-yard TD run while throwing a pair of touchdown passes to all-state receiver Al Young.
"A running quarterback can kill you in our offense because you don't count on him," Norman said. "It's hard to defend him. He does a great job of selling the fakes and making it happen."
Sikeston forced a three-and-out on the Tigers' opening possession of the game, but it was all downhill from there as Cape Central scored on its next four possessions.
Cape Central (7-4) sophomore running back Aaron Harris scored on a 14-yard run, Young had a 1-yard TD run and then caught an 8-yard TD pass in which he was blanketed by the Sikeston defender but still managed to haul in the catch.
Chisom then had a 35-yard bootleg scramble to give the Tigers a 27-0 lead at the half.
Sikeston only had 21 yards of total offense at halftime.
"They smoked us tonight," Gibbs said. "They controlled the line of scrimmage. They ran to the ball and they made plays. They're a lot different team as far as the physicality of things. It seems like their defense is a whole lot better. The Chisom kid has really improved a lot. I mean he's just a phenomenal athlete. He does a good job of running their offense."
The Tigers put the mercy clock into motion momentarily at the start of the third quarter when Felawn Smith's 9-yard run capped Cape Central's longest drive of night -- a 12-play, 86-yard drive.
Sikeston broke the shutout when Josh Stinnett wrestled the ball away from Tiger fullback Christian Mitchell and returned the fumble 21 yards for a touchdown.
Young added a second 8-yard TD reception in the fourth quarter and Sikeston scored as the final horn sounded when quarterback Nathan Hampton found Justus Faulkner in the back of the end zone on a 20-yard hookup.
Young finished with three touchdowns and had 76 all-purpose yards. Harris ran for 90 yards on 15 carries.
The Tigers finished with 352 yards of total offense.
"I felt like our kids executed," Norman said. "Nobody had to do anything out of this world. We just told them, 'you play your position. Execute. Do your job every single play.' And our kids took care of business."
Sikeston will graduate 15 seniors from this year's team.
"Obviously you always want to be better and sometimes you're judged on that last game of the year, but overall we won seven ballgames and I felt like we did a lot of good things," Gibbs said. "At times we were a pretty good football team and at times there were some things that other people were able to do to us. But overall I was pleased with how we responded this year and the work ethic that we had. We had a lot of young kids play and we're going to have some more of those kids step up next year. I would like to say thank you to our senior bunch. It's tough to send them out that way, but they came to work every day and responded to us.
"I appreciate the mom's group for the work that they've done. And of course I appreciate the Friends of the Program for providing meals for us and the businesses in town that provided our breakfast and those kind of things. Also I'd be remiss if I didn't say thank you to the coaches. The coaches do a great job and people in town have done a good job of standing behind us. Those people that I just mentioned, you can't do things without everybody helping and we certainly had a lot of people pulling for us."
Cape Central 14 13 8 6 -- 41
Sikeston 0 0 6 6 -- 12
First quarter
C -- Aaron Harris 14 run (Bennett Osburn kick), 3:38
C -- Al Young 1 run (Osburn kick), 11:57
Second Quarter
C -- Young 8 pass from Kway'chon Chisom (kick blocked), 11:57
C -- Chisom 35 run (Osburn kick), 2:37
Third Quarter
C -- Felawn Smith 7 run (Chisom run), 5:27
S -- Josh Stinnett 21 fumble return (pass failed), 2:12
Fourth Quarter
C -- Young 8 pass from Chisom (kick failed), 11:56
S -- Justus Faulkner 20 pass from Nathan Hampton, 0:00
TEAM STATISTICS
C S
First downs 17 6
Total yards 352 110
Rushes-yards 52-312 20-68
Passing yards 40 42
Comp.-Att.-Int. 3-5-0 6-17-0
Fumbles-lost 3-2 1-1
Penalties-yards 7-65 8-75
Turnovers 2 1
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing -- Cape Central, Kway'chon Chisom 12-118, Aaron Harris 15-90, Felawn Smith 7-49, Al Young 7-36, Christian Mitchell 7-19, Joseph Baker 2-2, Team 2-(-2). Sikeston, Earnest Fobbs 3-25, Victwon Riley 8-22, Justus Faulkner 2-13, Phayzun Fobbs 1-7, Keshawn Ellis 2-4, Nathan Hampton 4-(-3).
Passing -- Cape Central, Kway'chon Chisom 3-5-0 40. Sikeston, Nathan Hampton 6-17-0 42.
Receiving -- Cape Central, Al Young 3-40. Sikeston, Justus Faulkner 2-20, Phayzun Fobbs 1-12, Jaylen Mallory 1-8, Deterio Newman 1-6, Earnest Fobbs 1-(-2).
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