September 26, 2015
Poplar Bluff throws for 371 yards, hands Sikeston first loss of the season
It's Sikeston's first loss to the Mules at Morrow Stadium since 2007 and it's the first time the Bulldogs have lost to Poplar Bluff in consecutive seasons since 2006 and 2007.
By Derek James - Standard Democrat
sports@standard-democrat.com
POPLAR BLUFF -- Heading into Friday night's SEMO North Conference game against Poplar Bluff, Sikeston coach Kent Gibbs knew his team would need to control the clock as well as contain Poplar Bluff's passing game.
Neither of those things happened as Sikeston dropped its first game of the season, falling 26-16 at Morrow Stadium in Poplar Bluff.
The Bulldogs (5-1, 2-1 SEMO) could not put together its long, sustained ball-control drives that have worked so effectively this season, nor could they stop Poplar Bluff and its quarterback Tristen Francisco, who threw for 371 yards and four touchdowns.
It's Sikeston's first loss to the Mules at Morrow Stadium since 2007 and it's the first time the Bulldogs have lost to Poplar Bluff in consecutive seasons since 2006 and 2007.
"I think they're going to be hard to stop, no matter who they play," Gibbs said. "It's going to take a really good team to stop their offense. The kid does a great job of throwing. They do a good job of catching and they run after the catch."
Additionally, Sikeston's offense never could get rolling.
The Bulldogs had numerous dropped passes, were limited to 153 yards rushing -- the team's second-lowest total this year -- and they were flagged 12 times for 103 yards, both season highs.
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"I don't know, what did we have, five or six dropped passes?" Gibbs said. "You're going to have penalties, you're going to have dropped passes, you're going to have fumbles. But if you have too many of them it eliminates your chance to win."
The Bulldogs started the game well with quarterback Nathan Hampton connecting with sophomore Bryce Bays for a 47-yard pass play. Two plays later, running back Earnest Fobbs ran up the middle, broke a pair of tackles and spun into the end zone for a touchdown just 64 seconds into the game.
Hampton ran in the two-point conversion out of the "swinging gate" formation to give the Bulldogs an 8-0 lead.
Hampton then recovered his own onside kick to give the Bulldogs good field position at the Mule 49.
Sikeston, however, could not capitalize as the drive went three-and-out and were forced to punt, pinning the Mules back to the 4-yard line.
On the Mules' second play Jerrid Moore took the fly sweep and out-ran the Bulldog defenders down the sideline before inexplicably losing his grip on the football. He fumbled after running 75 yards and Sikeston's Phayzun Fobbs plucked the ball out of the air and returned it to the Bulldog 24.
Sikeston, again, went three-and-out and were forced to punt.
The Mules began to take over from there.
Francisco delivered a 42-yard scoring pass to Denzel Britton to cap a five-play, 83-yard drive. The two point conversion pass failed, leaving the Bulldogs with an 8-6 lead with 4:53 left in the first.
Sikeston's next drive ended on downs and Poplar Bluff took advantage, this time going 61-yards on six plays with Francisco hitting Moore for a 26-yard touchdown pass, giving the Mules a 12-8 lead with 47 seconds left in the first quarter.
Midway through the second quarter the Bulldogs were set up with good field position at the Poplar Bluff 41 and they were able to move the ball deep into Mule territory.
But Sikeston had two touchdowns wiped out by penalties on the drive.
Bulldog junior Justus Faulkner had a 16-yard touchdown run brought back by a holding penalty and Deterio Newman had a 16-yard touchdown reception erased by an illegal chop block penalty.
The Bulldogs drove as deep as the 9-yard line on the drive, but the penalties pushed them back to the point of eventually punting on 4th-and-36.
"We just didn't do anything offensively, whether it was a dropped pass, whether it was a penalty, whether it was a fumble," Gibbs said. "We just couldn't get our feet underneath us. We didn't deserve to win tonight. Poplar Bluff deserved to win and I take my hat off to them."
Three plays after Sikeston's punt the Mules extended the lead to 20-8 when Ross Rushin got behind Sikeston's secondary and hauled in Francisco's deep ball for an 82-yard score with 4:59 left in the half. The Mules' Zane Foust scored the two-point conversion on a reverse.
After Sikeston punted on its first series of the second half, Poplar Bluff extended the lead to 26-8 when Francisco connected with Moore from five yards out to cap an eight-play, 77-yard drive.
Neither team managed any offense the rest of the third quarter, but Sikeston had another scoring chance midway through the fourth quarter when Faulkner caught a short pass across the middle from Hampton.
Faulkner then cut back across the field for what appeared to be a sensational 75-yard touchdown reception, but like Moore had done early in the game after a long run, Faulkner also lost his grip on the football and fumbled inside the 5-yard line.
Poplar Bluff's Steven Haley scooped up the fumble at the 1-yard line and returned it to the Sikeston 20.
It was just that kind of night for the Bulldogs.
"I felt sorry for Justus Faulkner because he could do that same thing 100 times and never fumble the ball, but he did that time," Gibbs said. "No excuses, that's just what we did. For whatever reason all those things happened, and put on top of that that Bluff played well and it just wasn't in the cards for us."
Sikeston's defense eventually forced a punt from the Mules and this time the Bulldogs took advantage, driving 65 yards and scoring with 1:47 left in the game when Hampton found Newman in the back of the end zone from 18 yards out. The play was set up by a 39-yard run from Victwon Riley.
Riley then added the two-point conversion run to cut the Mules' lead to 26-16.
Sikeston's onside kick went out of bounds and Poplar Bluff was able to take possession and run out the remaining time on the clock.
Overshadowed by Francisco's big passing night was Poplar Bluff's defensive front that controlled the line of scrimmage against the Bulldogs.
"I thought our defense did a great job up front," Poplar Bluff coach Mark Barousse said. "They started gashing us a little bit there in the second half and we made an adjustment. We talked about getting off the field in third-and-long and fourth-and-long, something we didn't do well last week. This week we were able to get off the field."
Despite the dropped passes, Sikeston did have success in its passing game as Hampton threw for a career high 210 yards, completing 11 of 24 passes. Even his interception was a pass off his own receiver's helmet that bounced straight up in the air and into the hands of Haley.
"I thought he played well," Gibbs said of Hampton. "He made some good choices. He ran the ball when he needed to run the ball. He threw the ball well."
Faulkner finished with a career high 101 yards receiving on five receptions.
Riley added 128 yards rushing on 20 carries.
Sikeston did manage to limit the Mules' ground game, limiting them to 79 yards rushing on 26 carries.
They also forced four Poplar Bluff punts and had two takeaways, including an interception by Deonundre Johnson.
"Honestly after the first couple of drives I thought our defense stepped up and played really well for most of the rest of the night," Gibbs said. "They got a couple plays on us, which good ball players are going to do that. Good teams are going to do that."
Sikeston still controls its own destiny in the SEMO North when they travel to Jackson next Friday. If the Bulldogs win, they can still clinch the conference title outright due to its head-to-head victory over Cape Central.
Sikeston 8 0 0 8 -- 16
Poplar Bluff 12 8 6 0 -- 26
First quarter
S -- Earnest Fobbs 21 run (Nathan Hampton run), 10:54
P -- Denzel Britton 42 pass from Tristen Francisco (pass failed), 4:53
P -- Jerrid Moore 26 pass from Francisco (pass failed), 0:47
Second Quarter
P -- Ross Rushin 82 pass from Francisco (Zane Foust run), 4:56
Third Quarter
P -- Moore 5 pass from Francisco (pass failed), 5:13
Fourth Quarter
S -- Deterio Newman 18 pass from Hampton (Victwon Riley run), 1:47
TEAM STATISTICS
S P
First downs 8 12
Total yards 363 450
Rushes-yards 30-153 26-79
Passing yards 210 371
Comp.-Att.-Int. 11-24-1 21-31-1
Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-1
Penalties-yards 12-1039-55
Turnovers 2 2
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing -- Sikeston, Victwon Riley 20-128, Earnest Fobbs 6-19, Nathan Hampton 3-10, Team 1-(-4). Poplar Bluff, Jerrid Moore 3-74, Tristen Francisco 17-25, Team 1-(-6), Dustin Gatewood 5-(-14).
Passing -- Sikeston, Nathan Hampton 11-24-1 210. Farmington, Tristen Francisco 21-31-1 371.
Receiving -- Sikeston, Justus Faulkner 5-101, Bryce Bays 1-47, Phayzun Fobbs 2-33, Deterio Newman 1-18, Earnest Fobbs 2-11. Poplar Bluff, Ross Rushin 6-138, Denzel Britton 4-101, Jerrid Moore 7-74, Tyson Cox 4-58.
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