Brian Rosener is the keeper of the Semoball Cup which is presented to the school with the most successful season. It is based on a formula that takes into account the combined winning percentage of all sports teams plus bonus points for advancement in postseason play for both teams and individuals. The bonus points are divided by the number of teams a school fields. Rosener has been the sports editor for the Daily American Republic in Poplar Bluff, Mo. since December 2001. He was born and raised in St. Louis, where he attended Lindbergh High School and Webster University. He is married to Jennifer, a Poplar Bluff native, has a son Jack and a dog named Satchel who stands in for his @semoballBrian photo.

Bluff-Sikeston II

Posted Tuesday, November 10, 2009, at 11:29 AM

Sorry I couldn't post from the game Monday night. The pressbox was full and blogging from the sideline is pretty tough without a power outlet.

Not much changed in 17 days. Take a look at these stats:

MONDAY PB SIK

First downs 7 20

Total yards 132 392

Rushes-yds. 17-3 63-286

Passing yds. 129 106

Punt returns 0 30

Kickoff return 28 27

Interception returns 0 19

Comp-Att-Int. 11-22-3 7-10-0

Sacked-yds. lost 1-3 2-10

Punts-Avg. yds. 5-38.0 4-18.5

Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0

Penalties-yds. 3-20 6-80

Time of possession 15:25 32:35

FIRST MEETING PB SIK

First downs 7 21

Total yards 136 398

Rushes-yds. 28-66 66-314

Passing yds. 70 84

Punt returns 0 0

Kickoff return 45 14

Interception returns 0 11

Comp-Att-Int. 4-10-2 8-14-2

Sacked-yds. lost 0-0 1-8

Punts-Avg. yds. 5-30.4 1-36.0

Fumbles-lost 4-2 2-1

Penalties-yds. 2-20 4-30

Time of possession 15:16 32:14

The seventh-ranked Bulldogs (12-0) will host Ladue (10-2) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Mules finished 8-4, while making their first playoff in nine years. They lost twice to Sikeston along with a season-opening overtime loss to New Madrid County Central, which also reached the quarterfinals in Class 3. Poplar Bluff also lost to 10th-ranked Hannibal, which had its season end in the Class 4 playoffs Monday night.

The Mules switched quarterbacks in the second half because senior Zach McAnulty has been playing through an illness, Mules coach Shane Kearbey said.

Both defenses looked very good but Sikeston was just better. Sikeston coach Kent Gibbs had this to say:

"People want to talk about our offense a lot and I undertad that because that makes headlines, our defense is really really good and they played really really hard. They deserve a little credit for some of the things that's been going on. I just htink we've gotta good defense and we did a very good job against a talented football team tonight."

When your defense has allowed a total of 20 points in the first half all season and 81 in all, that's impressive. The Mules averaged 300 rushing yards per game but had just 3 Monday night and 66 in the first meeting.

Poplar Bluff set a team record for points in a season Monday night and had a pair of 1,000-yard running backs for the first time ever. The Mules came into the game averaging 34 points and 421 yards per game but were held to 11 points and 268 total yards in two games against Sikeston. Poplar Bluff managed just 17 total yards in the first half on 17 plays, while turning the ball over twice.

Zach Ferguson's 1,417 yards this season were fourth-most in team history while Eljie Johnson's 1,271 ranked eighth, averaging 12.6 yards per carry. The pair ran 14 times for a combined 19 yards Monday. Ferguson finished with 3,608 rushing yards for his career.

There's a full story in Tuesday's DAR.

From earlier

A busy weekend has kept me away from the computer to get ready for tonight's HUGE playoff game at Sikeston between the unbeaten Bulldogs and the Poplar Bluff Mules.

We hope to have a live blog going for the game -- either myself or Rob Tate will post updates on his blog -- however, it looks as if the pressbox will be pretty full. I'll know by 6:30, but if you can get to the game, don't miss this one.

A preview story can be found here.

You can print off a fan guide here.

I hope to have more from my trip to Indianapolis later this week (Tuesday night), if fans want to make the trip themselves. Sorry I didn't add anything after the game Friday night. I had to drive straight to St. Louis to attend a wedding the next day. (Congrats Steph and Will).

Comments

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Hope to hear some updates. I am in New Madrid. If this game gets out of hand and the Sikeston game is close at halftime I may head toward Sikeston.

-- Posted by drawmules on Mon, Nov 9, 2009, at 6:56 PM
It's 12-0 at the end of the first, drawmules. Sikeston offense having its way.

I'm not there since semoball is well-represented by the DAR and Standard Democrat, but I am listening on the radio.

-- Posted by Rachel Crader on Mon, Nov 9, 2009, at 7:30 PM
You should tune your radio to the NMCC game Crader. Amazing first half. Hope to hear a second half update of the Sikeston game.

-- Posted by drawmules on Mon, Nov 9, 2009, at 8:24 PM
20-8 Sikeston at the end of three. Poplar Bluff offense showing some life.

-- Posted by Rachel Crader on Mon, Nov 9, 2009, at 9:00 PM
Sikeston wins 26-11.

-- Posted by Rachel Crader on Mon, Nov 9, 2009, at 9:19 PM
Zero yards on the ground is pretty tuff D .

Sikeston's defense played well. And the offense ground it out...hard to beat someone twice....

Congratulations Bulldogs !!!!!

-- Posted by Headhunt on Mon, Nov 9, 2009, at 11:56 PM
Congrats SIKESTON BULLDOGS!!!From your old rival,CHARLESTON BLUEJAYS!!!!

-- Posted by DonaldTrump on Tue, Nov 10, 2009, at 5:57 AM
See you in the SEMO CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT!!!!

-- Posted by DonaldTrump on Tue, Nov 10, 2009, at 5:58 AM
Incredible how similar those stats are. After watching the game and looking at those numbers, I think Sikeston dominated this game more than the first one, although the score didn't show it. And a couple breakdowns on special teams by Sikeston got PB the safety and field position for their lone TD.

-- Posted by semohoops on Tue, Nov 10, 2009, at 12:09 PM
I checked out Ladue's schedule and they played some good teams and are 10-2.This has nothing to do with Saturdays quarterfinal game,but I will be rootn for the DOGZ!!!Now I will do my research to see how many teams Ladue beat that made the playoffs and what's up with teams that beat the RAMS.

-- Posted by DonaldTrump on Tue, Nov 10, 2009, at 1:55 PM
Jayjayblue,

Ladue lost to Parkway West and Normandy. Pretty stiff competition. If you like computer rankings, The Massey ratings have Sikeston ranked as the #8 team in Class 4 and they have Ladue at #17. The Massey computer was exactly right with their predicted point spread for the Sikeston vs Bluff game last night, predicting a sikeston victory 31-16. For the Ladue game, Massey is predicting Sikeston will win by 13.

-- Posted by pigdog on Tue, Nov 10, 2009, at 2:04 PM
Massey is traditionally pretty accurate once you get this deep into the season. The more information that is fed into the computer, the more accurate it becomes. It cannot, however, take into account injuries and weather conditions, etc.

-- Posted by semohoops on Tue, Nov 10, 2009, at 2:35 PM
semohoops,

I completely agree. Unlike human polls, the computer can evaluate loads and loads of data, and it amazes me how, at this point in the year, how accurate Massey can be. Not saying it always is, but it certainly has a pretty good track record. Massey will be updated in a few hours, but as I said above, as of right now, it picks Sikeston over Ladue, but predicts Sikeston to lose to Helias by around 17 in the next round. I won the pigskin pick'em competition this year (no brag, just fact) and I leaned heavily on Massey for guidance.

-- Posted by pigdog on Tue, Nov 10, 2009, at 3:04 PM
Coach Gibbs is "first class" all the way! Last night in his post-game interview on KFVS, his first comment was "to begin with, we have some talent!" I have observed his entire coaching career, and he has achieved peak performances from his teams (Hayti, Fredericktown, Sikeston)! Best of luck in Sikeston's quest of a State Championship!

-- Posted by semo7178 on Tue, Nov 10, 2009, at 8:50 PM
You're right. Gibbs, like all coaches know, you gotta have the horses. That's where it starts. Once you have the horses, good coaching can take them far.

-- Posted by semohoops on Tue, Nov 10, 2009, at 9:58 PM
Anyone know the estimated attendance of the game Monday night? Both the Sikeston and PB sides were mostly full.

-- Posted by yah-yah on Wed, Nov 11, 2009, at 8:23 AM
Wild guess, but I'd say 4,000 or 5,000.

-- Posted by semohoops on Wed, Nov 11, 2009, at 9:39 AM
Hey Brian, when does the new state poll come out? Where can it be seen as soon as possible?

-- Posted by Cully Bryant on Wed, Nov 11, 2009, at 10:37 AM

Brian Rosener's response:
The final state poll will be released the week after the Show-Me Bowl, most likely Dec. 2 with the all-state team.
I hate to admite it, but I was one of the people questioning the Gibbs hire. It was not that I didn't like him personally...I didn't know him personally...but his overall record was barely over .500. Anyway...I will have to eat some crow and it is actually tasting very good!!!!

-- Posted by Rocket689 on Wed, Nov 11, 2009, at 5:12 PM
Gibbs career record is a tad deceiving. It's not always about your win/loss record, it's about what you do with the talent you have. I wouldn't say Fredericktown is a hotbed of football talent. No offense to those guys, they're hard-nosed and all, but you got to have some fast, strong athletes to compete on a state level. As stated above, you gotta have the horses. At Hayti, Gibbs had the horses and he took them all the way to the state title game. Here's hoping history can repeat with Gibbs when he's got horses now at Sikeston. Except the only difference, Gibbs team wins the state title and not finish second!

-- Posted by semohoops on Wed, Nov 11, 2009, at 11:25 PM

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