By BRIAN ROSENER ~ DAR Sports Editor

Bill Caputo compares the day MSHSAA releases the football district pairings to working the New York Stock Exchange.

Poplar Bluff's athletic director had just two games set before the announcement Friday that the Mules will stay in Class 4 District 1 with Farmington, Sikeston and West Plains. By that afternoon, Caputo and Mules coach Brian Robbins were driving home with a full 10-game schedule for the next two years.

"We played phone tag all day," Robbins said.

While Robbins was at one meeting of coaches and athletic directors in Festus, Caputo went to Sikeston for another meeting looking for opponents to play.

"This is the first time in my career as athletic director that we came out of there and we had our schedule done," Caputo said.

All that's left is for each school to sign the contracts.

As it stands, the Mules will open the season at New Madrid County Central on Aug. 29, then travel to Union before hosting Hannibal in Week 3. The rest of the schedule is the same as last year with the exception of Farmington and Cape Central switching weeks.

"We play three of the first four on the road but the next year three of the first four are at home," Caputo said.

The Mules travel to Dexter in Week 4, then host North County before opening SEMO North Conference play at Cape Central. Jackson comes to Morrow Stadium in Week 7 before district play starts the following week. Poplar Bluff will host two of the three district games in 2008.

Here's a look at Poplar Bluff's opponents for 2008 and '09: New Madrid, Union, Hannibal, Dexter, North County, Cape Central, Jackson, Farmington (district), Sikeston (district), West Plains (district).

"We were able to get something we felt was pretty competitive and something that's going to challenge us in a weekly basis," Robbins said.

With an enrollment of 1,304, Poplar Bluff was on the bubble between Class 4 and 5 while Robbins said he was pretty sure Cape Central was going to move up. Until that happened Friday and it was also announced that West Plains will remain in District 1, there was little Caputo or Robbins could do with the schedule except put New Madrid in Week 1.

Blytheville, which was on the schedule in each of the last 21 years, chose not to play the Mules.

Robbins said the process started Friday with setting up the district and conference opponents then adding to the schedule from there.

At one point, Caputo said he got a call from Lafayette looking for a game and called Robbins, who was talking with Fox. When Robbins called back, he said Fox fell through.

"What about Lafayette?" Caputo said.

"They're playing Fox that day."

After confirming with Dexter to play in Week 4, Robbins said North County was picked up as a home date in 2008. The Mules beat North County for homecoming this past season, 27-21 in overtime, and Caputo said Friday night that the Raiders may again be the homecoming opponent.

The Mules will play Union, a Class 4 school, for the first time ever but the Wildcats are no strangers to Robbins, who coached at conference-rival St. Clair for four years. Union also played the Mules the past two seasons during the Farmington jamboree.

Union finished 9-2 this year losing to Ozark in overtime during the sectional playoffs after finishing 10-1 in 2006.

"Union is going to be flat loaded this year, I knew that," Robbins said. "I really believe playing a team like that and seeing that kind of offense and defense is going to prepare us for teams like Farmington."

Hannibal, another Class 4 school, was the final team picked up for the next two years with the Mules hosting in 2008. The Pirates were 3-7 this fall after going 11-3 in 2006 and 9-1 the previous year.

The Mules played Hannibal in 1983, winning 16-7.

"We were fielding phone calls from a lot of places," Robbins said. "It was just a matter of being patient and moving your schedule around."

After the district schedule is finalized and times and dates are set -- the trip to Cape Central may be on a Thursday -- Robbins said he'll work on coming up with what jamboree the to attend.

Poplar Bluff will be the second-largest school in Class 4.

The Mules, who last won a district title in 2000, finished 5-5 in 2007 but had a winning district record for the first time in four years and can return seven defensive starters and 10 starters on offense.

Poplar Bluff's two oldest rivals -- Cape Central and Jackson -- will each have new coaches next fall and be in the same district in Class 5. Central's Lawrence Brookins resigned earlier this month after nine season while the Southeast Missourian reported Saturday that Jackson's Carl Gross, who is 137-69 in 19 seasons, has submitted his letter of resignation.

Farmington will join the SEMO North in 2008, having already played the Mules and Sikeston this past fall.

The Knights have beaten Poplar Bluff in each of the last three seasons after the Mules won the first three meetings since the series was renewed for the first time since 1984.

West Plains won the district title this fall while Farmington finished second in District 2 after winning the last two titles. Since joining District 1 in 2004, West Plains has won three titles while Cape Central won the other in 2006.

West Plains has won all four meetings against the Mules since joining the district .

The playoff format will also change as the top two teams in each district will advance to the MSHSAA playoffs, which will feature a 32-team bracket for Classes 1-4.

"Overall, pretty happy with it, pretty excited about it," Robbins said. "It's a pretty competitive schedule.

"(The team) knows what's ahead of them now so we can get to work and go get it."