Poplar Bluff ends Sikeston's season 3-2

POPLAR BLUFF -- The Poplar Bluff soccer team found out just how hard it is to beat the same team four times in one season on Wednesday night.

Moments before his team took the field, Poplar Bluff coach Steve Edwards cautioned his players to watch out for Sikeston's "punch in the mouth" approach, and after Kameron Misner's goal eight minutes into the game, the Mules felt it.

Sikeston tied the game, controlled the rest of the first half and took a lead well into the second until Poplar Bluff countered.

The second-seeded Mules scored two unanswered goals in the second half, including Jeffry Hardin's game-winner with less than two minutes to play to give his team a 3-2 victory over the No. 3 Bulldogs in a Class 3, District 1 semifinal at Whiteley Park.

"I'm humble to be on the side that we are, but we also got a little lucky tonight. It was just a crazy game, another crazy game between us and them," Poplar Bluff coach Steve Edwards said. "You look at every game we've played this season, and we won every one by one goal. It was just a dog fight the whole way through in every game. "

Poplar Bluff (14-10) will play top-seeded Farmington (20-1-2) in the championship at 6 p.m. today.

Sikeston (9-15-1) outshot the Mules 12-8 but missed two wide open nets and several chances to solidify its lead throughout the game.

"I thought we possessed the ball well, I thought we had the ball on the doorstep several times and didn't finish it. I thought they did too and didn't finish it," Sikeston coach Gabe Dement said. "Turns out they're the ones that finally finished the ball that mattered in the end."

Dakota Ray scored both goals for the Bulldogs and tied the game at 1-all eight minutes before halftime.

"I think we put it out there. I think we dominated the game, especially in the first half," Ray said. "They had the advantage in games over us so we wanted to show our best stuff."

Sikeston missed its first wide open net at the 28-minute mark of the second, but it didn't seem to matter when Ray scored his second goal six minutes later to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game at 2-1.

"Momentum and confidence for sure but Bluff is a dangerous team," Dement said. "With Misner and Jeffry, you give them any space their going to get you."

Another shot at a wide open net went wide for Sikeston following Ray's goal before Misner and Hardin teamed up on an equalizer four minutes later. Placed perfectly to the right side of the goal, Hardin received a high pass and flicked a headball to Misner, who finished it into the top left corner with a header of his own.

"That's just Jeffry taking on the whole team like he normally does and making me look good while he does it," Misner said of his team-leading 23rd goal.

Each team had four more solid chances at goals before Poplar Bluff's Michael Anagnostopoulos found Hardin in the top left corner of the field and sent a bouncing through pass his way. From there, the junior did the rest, racing past a few defenders before sending a shot between the legs of Sikeston goalie Max Ault and into the back of the net.

"We were having trouble getting the ball to his feet and only getting it to him above his head," Edwards said. "When we finally did you saw what can happen. You give Jeffry Hardin the ball to his feet, I'll take him every day over anybody."

Sikeston had Hardin covered but even on a wet torn up field he found a way to get past a wall of defenders.

"It's a tough way to go out and end your season but he just made a nice cut to beat us," Dement said. "He can cut on a dime, and somehow he can cut on a dime in that box. With the way the field conditions were, that's impressive."