September 5, 2015
Sikeston stuns state-ranked Cape Central 23-19
Sikeston defied the odds and pulled off a shocking 23-19 win over the No. 10 state-ranked Tigers on a hot, humid night at Sikeston Public Schools Stadium.
By Derek James - Standard Democrat
sports@standard-democrat.com
SIKESTON -- Few expected this.
Cape Central, with all of its depth and talented weapons, entered Friday night's game at Sikeston as a heavy favorite.
And why not? The Tigers made it all the way to the Class 4 state title game last season. They returned the best player in the area. And they demolished Sikeston last season. Twice.
Entering Friday night's game it's logical to think that Sikeston would have its hands full.
But sometimes logic doesn't make sense.
Sikeston defied the odds and pulled off a shocking 23-19 win over the No. 10 state-ranked Tigers on a hot, humid night at Sikeston Public Schools Stadium.
"It's crazy. I'm really happy to beat Cape -- it's been awhile," Sikeston senior lineman John Paul Rowland said. "We got some revenge on them."
The Bulldogs did it with defense, most notably containing the explosive Al Young, and limiting the Tigers' big plays. But Sikeston's offense also had its moments with none bigger than the final drive of the night.
Trailing 19-16 with 3:32 left, Sikeston was backed up to its own 22. The Bulldogs would need to cover 78 yards for a touchdown. Up to that point in the game, Sikeston's longest drive of the night only covered 58 yards, and that one ended on downs.
But the Bulldogs (3-0) began to methodically move the chains. Included on the drive was a 4th-and-11 conversion when Young was whistled for pass interference, keeping the drive alive for the Bulldogs.
Then, later in the drive, facing 4th-and-10, Sikeston quarterback Nathan Hampton connected with Earnest Fobbs for a 22-yard pickup to put the Bulldogs into the red zone.
Fobbs finally capped the 15-play drive on 3rd-and-goal from the four. He took the handoff, bounced it wide, and was able to spin out of the grasp of Young and fall into the end zone with 27 seconds left.
Hampton, who threw for a season-high 100 yards in the game, completed 4 of 7 passes for 60 yards on the final drive, including a 33-yarder to senior wideout Jaylen Mallory.
Hampton's extra point gave the Bulldogs a 23-19 lead.
"We practice it every day at the end," Hampton said of the final drive. "It's easy when the O-line gives you lots of time back there and you're able to read your keys. When your receivers get open and they catch the ball like they did it makes it a whole lot easier. It just showed how well we conditioned and prepared in the summer."
Sikeston head coach Kent Gibbs said Hampton's poise on the final drive was critical, as well as his teammates' abilities to come up with crucial plays.
"So many plays it's hard to remember all of them, but I would characterize it as clutch," Gibbs said. "There were a lot of clutch things that happened with all 11 of them. Whether it was a receiver blocking, a running back running, or Nathan making a play or a lineman blocking."
The Tigers never could cross midfield on the final possession. Quarterback Kway'chon Chisom's final Hail Mary pass to Young was batted down at the 20-yard line by Sikeston's Phayzun Fobbs to preserve the victory.
"I think anytime the ball is in the air like that it's going to be a jump-ball like basketball and Al's going to have a chance to catch it," Gibbs said. "We did a good job on him to try to knock it down and get it away from him. I think we had a couple beside him and a couple behind him in case we messed up and he out-jumped us."
Prior to Sikeston's game-winning drive, it appeared Young had snatched victory away.
Sikeston had just marched 53 yards on 12 plays with Hampton scoring on a 1-yard sneak to give his team a 16-13 lead with 5:03 left.
On the ensuing kickoff -- Sikeston had kicked away from Young the entire night -- but this time the ball found Young's hands and the dynamic senior made the Bulldogs pay, darting his way through the Bulldogs' kickoff defenders and racing down the left sideline for an apparent go-ahead touchdown.
A blocking in the back penalty flag wiped out the touchdown, but the Tigers were still set up with excellent field position at the Sikeston 18-yard line. Chisom scored three plays later on an 11-yard run to give his team a 19-16 lead.
"We just didn't hit it where we wanted to hit it," Gibbs said of the kickoff to Young. "It's kind of one of those things if you just give him a little bit he's a great athlete and a great competitor and he did what he does well."
The penalty on Young's kick return, along with his pass interference penalty on Sikeston's final drive, drew the ire of Cape Central coach Nathan Norman.
"What aggravates me as a coach is when an official makes a call that determines the outcome of a game. Twice," Norman said. "Kickoff return down here on the six, block in the back. Nobody's around. Pass interference 4th-and-11, the receiver is inside my guy and pass interference. That's two times the officiating crew makes the call that determines the outcome of the game. Sikeston beat us. They out-coached us. They out-played us. But as a coach it also fires you up when the officials get involved too."
Sikeston came into the game with a plan of using ball-control drives to keep Cape Central's talented offensive players on the sideline.
The Bulldogs' opening drive was its best of the first half, marching 58 yards on 12 plays, but it stalled on downs at the 18-yard line.
Cape Central (1-2) responded with an 11-play drive capped by Young's 12-yard touchdown reception from Chisom. The extra point missed short, leaving the Tigers with a 6-0 lead with 1:11 left in the first quarter.
Both teams' defenses controlled the rest of the first half until Hampton's 49-yard punt pinned the Tigers back to its 8-yard line with just over three minutes remaining in the half.
Sikeston took advantage when Chisom, under duress from Sikeston's defensive front, threw an incomplete pass from the end zone that was flagged for intentional grounding resulting in a safety for the Bulldogs with 1:53 left, trimming the lead to 6-2 heading into halftime.
In the third quarter, Cape Central's opening drive was thwarted when Sikeston's Justus Faulkner jumped in front of a receiver and intercepted Chisom's pass, returning it 28 yards to the Tiger 33.
Nine plays later Sikeston junior fullback Keshawn Ellis plunged in from the 2 to give the Bulldogs its first lead of the night at 9-6.
Cape Central answered on its ensuing drive, going 62 yards on seven plays and scoring when Young took the pitch out of the backfield and tossed a 21-yard TD pass to Blake Harris to reclaim the lead for the Tigers at 12-9.
It was one example of Norman needing to get creative with his play-calling after Sikeston had found success stopping the Tiger offense.
"They stopped what we do well -- they stopped our power run game," Norman said. "And when we couldn't be as successful in that as we wanted to be, we tried to do different things and we weren't on. And when we weren't on with things it affected our game. They played harder than us for four quarters. They executed when they had to and they did a phenomenal job. Hats off to Sikeston. They beat us."
Sikeston limited the Tigers to 147 yards rushing. Sophomore Aaron Harris, a 5-foot-11, 195-pound bruiser, churned out 115 yards rushing on 17 carries.
But the Bulldogs limited the rest, including holding Young to four yards on three carries, and limiting the shifty Chisom to 26 yards on 10 carries.
Young, who is usually most dangerous as a receiver, had just two receptions for 20 yards.
The Bulldogs out-gained the Tigers 244 to 207 in total offense.
Senior running back Victwon Riley led the way with 52 yards on 15 carries. Earnest Fobbs had 51 yards on 12 carries along with 56 yards receiving on five catches.
But perhaps the biggest question mark coming into the game was whether Sikeston's linemen, who all play both ways, could hold up for an entire game against the Tigers' deep front.
"We were worried about our depth but they just kept plugging and kept plugging and kept plugging," Gibbs said. "We had some kids that got tired and some kids that had issues with the heat with cramps. But we just kept going. Our interior linemen played a great game tonight."
Rowland said he and his teammates didn't let the humid conditions bother them.
"Everybody's got a lot of pride in what they do," he said. "We just kept a positive attitude and just tell yourself to hang in there and push through it."
The win by the Bulldogs snapped a four-game losing streak to the Tigers.
But Gibbs says there's no time to celebrate. Now he must get his team prepared for a Dexter team that shocked Sikeston last year with a late "hook and ladder" play to win the game.
"We've just got to take this and build on it," Gibbs said. "Hopefully it will give us some confidence. It will help us practice better and help us do a lot of things better. I told the kids, 'enjoy what you got, but it's one ballgame and you've got to build off that and come back next Friday or it doesn't do you a whole lot of good.' So hopefully that's what we'll do."
Cape Central 6 0 6 7 -- 19
Sikeston 0 2 7 14 -- 23
__First quarter__
C -- Al Young 12 pass from Kway'chon Chisom (kick failed), 1:11
__Second quarter__
S -- Safety, 1:53
__Third quarter__
S -- Keshawn Ellis 2 run (Nathan Hampton kick), 5:41
C -- Blake Harris 21 pass from Young (run failed), 2:31
__Fourth quarter__
S -- Hampton 1 run (Hampton kick), 5:03
C -- Chisom 11 run (Jonathon Bohnert kick), 3:32
S -- Earnest Fobbs 4 run (Hampton kick), 0:27
__TEAM STATISTICS__
C S
First downs 8 15
Total yards 207 244
Rushes-yards 34-147 47-144
Passing yards 60 100
Comp.-Att.-Int. 6-11-1 9-17-0
Fumbles-lost 3-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 8-50 3-15
Turnovers 1 0
__INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS__
Rushing -- Cape Central, Aaron Harris 17-115, Kway'chon Chisom 10-26, Trevon McClard 3-6, Al Young 3-4, Tyler Banks 1-(-4). Sikeston, Victwon Riley 15-52, Earnest Fobbs 12-51, Keshawn Ellis 7-25, Nathan Hampton 9-15, Phayzun Fobbs 1-1, Justus Faulkner 3-0.
Passing -- Cape Central, Kway'chon Chisom 5-10-1 39, Al Young 1-1-0 21. Sikeston, Nathan Hampton 9-17-0 100.
Receiving -- Cape Central, Blake Harris 1-21, Al Young 2-20, Aaron Harris 1-10, Tevyn Wright-Hunt 1-5, Trevon McClard 1-4. Sikeston, Earnest Fobbs 5-56, Jaylen Mallory 2-34, Logan Hampton 1-10, Deterio Newman 1-0.
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