Sikeston defense hoping to lead charge again versus NMCC

sports@standard-democrat.com

SIKESTON -- Last season, the Sikeston Bulldogs hung its hat on a suffocating defense and a ground-based offense led by an all-state playmaker at quarterback in Kyland Gross on the way to a 9-2 record.

If last Friday's 24-6 season opening victory over Charleston is any indication, the Bulldogs may have a similar team this year.

Sikeston's defense, which graduated nearly every starter from last year, actually performed better against Charleston last week than they did a year ago against the Bluejays, limiting them to just 67 total yards of offense, lower than any total they allowed in a game last season.

And in his first start ever at quarterback, senior Reese Porter put up Gross-type numbers as he led the team with 126 yards rushing with two touchdowns and 85 yards passing.

Whether or not the first game is an indicator of things to come remains to be seen, but the Bulldogs will try to duplicate that performance against New Madrid County Central tomorrow at SPS Stadium at 7 p.m.

Sikeston defeated NMCC last year 12-0 while limiting the Eagles to 77 yards of offense. Similar to last week's game against Charleston, Sikeston coach Kent Gibbs is hoping for that kind of defensive effort once again versus an NMCC team with a completely different offensive scheme than the Bluejays.

"I think we've got to continue to do what we were good at the other night," Gibbs said. "New Madrid is not quite as big as Charleston was up front, but I think they're a little bit quicker up front and they're a little more diversified on offense. They'll get in two-back set and try to run isos and counters but they'll also spread out and try to run some fly sweeps and the pass game."

The Eagles come into the game following a 12-0 loss to Malden last week, surprising many that had NMCC pegged as the favorite in that matchup.

But an unforeseen problem arose for the Eagles.

An interception and four lost fumbles, including one on the first play from scrimmage, were too costly to overcome against the Green Wave.

It was a setback that caught NMCC coach Arlen Pixley off guard after his team showed no signs of fumble issues leading up to the game.

He said it's an area that has been stressed this week in practice.

"Oh yeah, ball security," Pixley said. "We'd done a great job of that throughout camp and our practices, but it was just one of those things where we saw another team with a different colored jersey and uniform and we forgot about that. It just kind of bit us all at once last week. We had some guys trying to make a little extra yardage on plays and we got a little loose with the football."

The Eagles have had a week to correct the problems with their old nemesis Sikeston looming tomorrow, a team that has won 16 of the 25 all-time games between the two schools, as well as the last four-straight in the series by an average score of 38 to 8.

Pixley knows his team cannot afford to repeat last week's mistakes tomorrow night against the Bulldogs.

"We learned from our mistakes watching film and we realized it wasn't a whole lot of what our opponent did to us last week, but a lot about what we did to ourselves," Pixley said. "I think Sikeston is a higher caliber opponent. I don't want to take anything away from Malden, but this team here has a lot more electricity on the edge as far as the playmakers go. We have to be very, very sound in what we do on defense and be very solid in what we do on offense to be able to matchup with these guys."

After Porter's solid debut under center last week, the Bulldogs also got a solid game from senior running back Chris Word, who rushed for 91 yards and had a 35-yard reception against the Bluejays.

Word, who missed last year's game against NMCC with an injury, is the leading returning rusher for the Bulldogs with 953 yards and 14 touchdowns.

The rest of the lineup is filled with new faces at the skill positions.

"They're well-coached -- coach Gibbs does a great job over there, number one," Pixley said. "Number two, they've got numbers. They've got some depth and some quality depth at a few spots. They're new in a few other areas, but those kids are learning and they're athletic enough to overcome that inexperience. I think the size issue -- they're a little bigger squad than us and they're very mobile. All their guys move up front and their defense moves around extremely well."

NMCC has an abundance of speed and athleticism in its backfield, but the team's offense was bottled up last week against the Green Wave.

Turnovers played a large role. Penalties brought back a few positive runs. Lack of blocking was another problem.

But Gibbs knows that the Eagles have the speed to break off big plays if his defense misses its assignments.

"They try to get their guys outside and they've got some kids that can run and get outside on us, and to be honest about it, outrun us if we let them do that," Gibbs said. "We didn't give up big plays last week and I think if you do that then you've got a chance to win a lot of ball games, so obviously we've got to be sharp on the edge and not let them get outside on us."

Two of those speedsters, Willie Jimmerson and Malik Stevenson, were held to a combined negative four yards on 14 carries last week against Malden.

Mikeal Walker had 81 yards rushing, 52 of the total coming on one carry. Quarterback Austin Lynn has mobility, rushing for 55 yards, but a hand injury limited his throwing, completing one pass for five yards.

The Eagles' strength, like the Bulldogs, is on the defensive side of the ball. Last year, they held the Bulldogs to its lowest point total of the season. Last week, they only allowed 153 yards of offense against the Green Wave.

"When you look at them on film, there's hardly two or three plays in a row where they're giving you the same defensive front," Gibbs said. "It's not a base defense that they'll stay in. They'll give you an odd front and an even front. We expect to see a lot of linebacker blitzes. We've got to be sharp mentally up front and we've got to communicate with each other and know when the blitzes are coming and know how to identify the different defensive fronts and whether or not they're in a man coverage or a three-deep coverage."

Last week, the Bulldogs' defense was led by Clay Porter's 13 tackles. Gibbs also pointed out the play of Austin Brown, who had eight tackles, including one that went for a safety against the Bluejays.

The defensive performance was, even to Gibbs, a surprising effort. Especially considering starting defensive lineman Damonj Wilson, a returning all-region performer, missed the game due to an injury. He is listed as questionable for Friday's game.

"We replaced a lot of people and I think our defense played a little bit better than I expected," Gibbs said. "Austin Brown played basically with a broken nose that he got about a week ago and didn't miss a snap. I thought our effort was just outstanding on defense and our defensive line played really well. I was really happy with the way our inside linebackers played and just overall our tenacity on defense. I would like to see us flip over and be a little bit more tenacious on offense and get after people a little bit better than what we did the other night."