Sikeston looking to bounce back against Dexter

Thursday, September 11, 2014
Sikeston's Earnest Fobbs tries to avoid the tackle attempt of Cape Central's Jordan Franklin on Friday night at Cape Central High School. (David Jenkins photo)

sports@standard-democrat.com

SIKESTON -- Sometimes teams get blown out.

It happens in sports on all levels.

How a team responds after being on the receiving end of a lopsided score -- those are the moments that often define a team's character.

The Sikeston Bulldogs will see exactly what they are made of tomorrow night when they host Dexter at 7 p.m. at Sikeston Public Schools Stadium.

The Bulldogs suffered its first loss of the season last Friday in a 47-7 rout at the hands of Cape Central.

Now the team will see if it was simply a game against a very talented team that got on a roll, or if corrections need to be made.

"You come off a game that we came off of Friday, you ought to have your feelings hurt a little bit," SIkeston coach Kent Gibbs said. "You ought to be upset a little bit. You ought to also know that it's one game out of nine on a regular season schedule and you learn from that. We've kind of gone back to the basics and worked a little bit more on some of the fundamental things and maybe narrowed the scope a little bit if you will. Hopefully from a mental standpoint we'll be able to put that game to rest and focus on us and not so much our opponent. Get ourselves in an emotional state where we can practice like we're capable of practicing and be ready to go and play a good game on Friday night."

Dexter quarterback Peyton Pollock directs his offensive line against Charleston Friday at Charles Bland Stadium in Dexter. (Chris Pobst photo)

The Bulldogs' opponent tomorrow has endured some hard times the past couple seasons, going just 3-17.

Dexter is off to a 1-2 start this year but has been competitive in all three, losing in the final minute to Ste. Genevieve 27-21 in the season opener and then losing a close game to Poplar Bluff 30-20 in Week 2.

The Bearcats bounced back with a 67-14 win over a rebuilding Charleston team last Friday.

"They're a much-improved football team," Gibbs said of Dexter. "They're a team that kind of got us at the contact camp this past summer. They do a really good job offensively of kind of spreading the wealth."

Dexter is led by senior quarterback Peyton Pollock, an underrated talent that leads the Bearcats in nearly every offensive category.

"The Pollock kid is having a real good year so far, and he was a good football player last year," Gibbs said. "Now he's got some improved weapons and some improved blocking. They're going to throw the ball around and he does a really good job of running the football also. They run a lot of read-type plays with him and the tailback."

Pollock has thrown for 314 yards, completing 38 of 69 passes (55 percent) with three touchdowns and one interception.

He also leads the team with 240 yards rushing on 51 carries with four touchdowns.

"We've got to really do a good job of containing Pollock," Gibbs said. "He's a really good quarterback and we can't let him just run wild. He does a good job, if he doesn't see a receiver, he gets outside the pocket and he makes plays. We have to get to the football and tackle."

So far this season Pollock has been the main source of offense, but Carson Dean (19 carries, 82 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Ethan Stevens (3-72) will also see carries out of the backfield.

Stevens leads the team in receptions with 11 catches for 117 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also has a punt return for a score.

Austin Chessor (9 receptions, 59 yards) and Austin Aldridge (4-53, TD) are also Pollock's top targets.

The Bulldogs come into the game with a 2-1 record, defeating Charleston 66-20 in the season opener and New Madrid County Central 35-6 in Week 2.

Juniors Earnest Fobbs and Victwon Riley lead the team in rushing. Fobbs has 231 yards on 44 carries with three touchdowns while Riley has 25 carries for 172 yards and three touchdowns.

Junior quarterback Nathan Hampton triggers the offense, throwing for 176 yards while completing 17 of 36 passes with three touchdowns.

"We've got to stretch people, whether it's sideline to sideline or vertically," Gibbs said. "To be real honest about it we couldn't do that last week. The basic part of our offense came from running our stuff inside. We tried to get the ball on the edge a little bit with some different looks and different routes. We caught the ball at times but really weren't as successful as we needed to be. We've got to get some kids in space. They're hard to run inside on which is kind of our selling point. What we try to do."

Sikeston, which leads the all-time series with Dexter 50-19, has defeated the Bearcats six straight times by an average score of 46 to 10, posting three shutouts during the stretch, including a 34-0 win last season.

Gibbs expects tomorrow night's game to be much more competitive.

"We certainly have a challenge ahead of us," Gibbs said.

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