Poplar Bluff, Nguyen look to ruin Bulldogs' undefeated streak

sports@standard-democrat.com

POPLAR BLUFF -- If Sikeston's football team has any intentions of keeping its undefeated season alive tomorrow night at Poplar Bluff, the Bulldog defense may want to locate and tackle No. 9 for the Mules.

The player donning that jersey number is Bi Nguyen, a 5-foot-6, 140 pound junior running back dynamo that has torched opposing defenses this year to the tune of 723 yards rushing, averaging 7.2 yards with every carry.

He set a school record with 320 yards rushing in a 31-14 Week 1 victory over Union and has topped 100 yards in every game since.

Tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at Poplar Bluff's Morrow Stadium, the Bulldogs (4-0) will have their chance against Nguyen and the Mules (2-2) in the 91st meeting between the two SEMO North Conference rivals.

"(Nguyen is) kind of a sneaky kid -- he gets in behind his big linemen and gets lost back there," Sikeston coach Kent Gibbs said. "He gets north and south really well. He breaks tackles, which is kind of amazing because he's a small kid. He's a good one. He does a good job of keeping his feet moving and breaking tackles and he's got some really long runs."

Last year as a sophomore, Nguyen had some success against the Bulldog defense, rushing for 67 yards on 14 carries in a 19-7 loss to Sikeston.

But he shared carries with other running backs.

This year he is the clear workhorse for the Mules' ground game, carrying 101 times this season. The next highest number of carries is 20 by the Mules' quarterback, sophomore Kameron Misner.

"For us defensively, really, we have to limit (Nguyen) and not let him have a huge game against us," Gibbs said. "We're hoping our defense can keep us in the game and we can get a few yards and score a couple touchdowns."

Misner has experienced some growing pains under center, completing 40 percent of his passes and getting sacked eight times. He's completed 25 of 62 passes for 321 yards with a pair of interceptions and a touchdown.

Sophomore Tristen Francisco leads the team with eight receptions for 149 yards and the lone touchdown.

"They do a lot of misdirection with their offense," Gibbs said. "They throw the short game mainly with hitches, bootlegs and things like that. It's mainly play-pass. When (Misner has) time he does a good job. If not, he takes it and he runs the football -- a little bit like we do things. We've got to play the run first. Stop the kid from running the ball and make them throw the ball downfield and take some chances with that."

The Bulldog defense has been lights out all season, allowing just 20 points combined through the first four games.

Fourteen of those points came in last week's 21-14 victory over Farmington in which the Knights' fourth quarter rally came up short on the final drive.

The Bulldogs had several key players out of action in that game, thinning out the team's depth and forcing inexperienced players into the lineup.

Despite the circumstances, Sikeston found a way to stop the Knights on a potential game-winning drive.

Poplar Bluff, after opening the season with lopsided victories over Union and Dexter (34-7), has dropped two-straight conference games to Cape Central (34-13) and Jackson (26-6).

The Mules led Jackson, largely considered the team to beat in conference play, 6-0 at the half but could not sustain the lead through the second half.

Poplar Bluff head coach Mark Barousse is hoping to change his team's fortunes against the Bulldogs.

"They always bring their A-game for us," Barousse said of the Bulldogs. "They're going to play hard. They're always a little bit better than they look like on film because they get better each week."

Poplar Bluff's offensive and defensive lines are enormous, creating plenty of space for Nguyen to run through while also plugging holes on the defensive side of the ball.

"Their interior front is big, no doubt about that," Gibbs said. "We're going to have to get some movement. Stalemates in the line of scrimmage are OK, but if they're behind the line of scrimmage, that's not good for us. So we're going to have to figure out a way to move them off the ball a little bit and do what we do. Run our misdirection stuff and try to get the ball down the field."

Sikeston's offense is led by quarterback Reese Porter, who has 421 yards rushing and six touchdowns. He's thrown for 203 yards and two touchdowns, completing 15 of 43 of his passes (35 percent).

Chris Word, who has missed significant time with an ankle injury this season, still has 280 yards rushing and a pair of scores.

Gibbs said Word is "getting better every day."

Filling in during Word's absence has been sophomore Earnest Fobbs (31 carries, 207 yards, 2 TD) and junior Courtney Hawkins (26-130, 1 TD).

Gibbs also said senior linebacker Austin Brown (broken nose) will make his return this week, saying he is a "big boost to our defense."

Offensive lineman Tanner Henson and running back and defensive lineman Peyton Boyd are both still out of action for a while with knee injuries.

Sikeston leads the all-time series with the Mules 54-32-4, winning the last six-straight dating back to 2007.

The Bulldogs will be looking to start the season 5-0 for the fourth time in five years.

"Number one we've got a chance to start the year 5-0 and that's big for anybody," Gibbs said. "It's our second conference game and if you don't win early in the conference it certainly gets tougher as you go. We're getting into the meat of our schedule where we need to be able to play those kind of people and play them well. This is a game where we can kind of have a barometer against ourselves and a Cape Central and a Jackson because they've already played them."