Strong second half lifts SHS past Harrisburg

sports@standard-democrat.com

SIKESTON -- Thanks to a pair of second half goals against Harrisburg, Ill., the Sikeston Bulldogs picked up a big late-season win Tuesday night while benefiting a good cause.

Senior Audie Hay provided the deciding score and Sam Cox went on to ice the game for a 3-1 final as their team donned gold jerseys in support of children's cancer victims.

"The theme lately has been starting fast and playing a full 80 minutes of soccer," Sikeston head coach Gabe Dement said. "Not 79-and-a-half minutes, not giving up on plays, but playing physical soccer for 80 minutes. We have to dig deep and trust our teammates.

"I felt like we did that very well tonight."

Sikeston came out of the break knotted up 1-1 with Harrisburg, but didn't take long to re-establish a lead they had until the final six minutes of the first half.

Sophomore Sam Cox took a ball on the right side of box and sent a long pass to a waiting Hay on the left side of the goal. Hay brought the pass down and buried his shot to put Sikeston on top 2-1 with 36:13 to play.

"Sam is beating them to the baseline and looking for crosses all day," Dement said of the play. "He finally found Audie on the back side, who received the ball and had a calm finish."

A few near misses over the next five minutes keep it a one-goal contest up until the final few minutes when Cox put in his second goal of the night.

Senior Chase Gaines sent a pass from near centerfield to inside the box to Cox, who had outran the defense. One-on-one with the keeper, Cox sent a shot in to the back of the net essentially icing the game, 3-1, with 2:04 to play.

"Chase Gaines plays a perfect ball to Sam and he finished," Dement said.

It was Cox who gave Sikeston the early lead when he took pass from senior Layton Jones and scored 23 minutes into the game.

Sikeston nearly kept their advantage going into the half, but with 6:23 before the break senior Carver Gregg evened things up for Harrisburg by beating a few defenders near the net and sneaking a shot inside the right post.

"We played a very hard first half," Harrisburg coach Michael Butler said. "We possessed and controlled the game for the most part in that half. Sikeston came out in the second and turned the tide on us.

"They controlled the game in the second half and shut us down in the middle."

The win moves Sikeston 9-10-1 while Harrisburg drops to 15-4.

Besides giving Sikeston a little momentum heading into Thursday's road game against Cape Central, the night gave Sikeston a chance to help someone in need.

Calling "Gold Out Kick Cancer" night, Sikeston raised over $600 in raffle proceeds to go with t-shirt sales to be donated to a freshman in the Sikeston school system battling cancer.

"We've raised $688 so far," Dement said. "We got a little bit of t-shirt profit off that too so we'll hopefully be looking around $800-$900 dollars by the time we're done."

Monday

FARMINGTON -- Watching an early two-goal lead slip away in the second half, the Sikeston Bulldogs fell 4-2 to host Farmington on Monday.

An early goal from Audie Hay off a pass from Sam Cox put the Bulldogs in the lead early. Midway through the first half Clark Atchison doubled their advantage, 2-0, with Connor Merideth picking up the assist.

A Farmington goal in the final three minutes of the half, however, closed the Knights' deficit to one and they scored three unanswered goals in the second half to come back for the win.

Earlier in the afternoon, the Bulldogs' junior varsity claimed a 5-1 win over the Knights' junior varsity.