Poplar Bluff junior Logan Plunkett goes for a ride on a first half slide tackle by Cape Central Tuesday night in Jackson. (Rob Tate/DAR) [Click to enlarge]

By ROB TATE ~ DAR Sports Writer

JACKSON -- There wasn't any vote tallying needed to determine the outcome of the MSHSAA Class 3 District 1 semifinal Tuesday night between Poplar Bluff and Cape Central.

What was counted, however, was goal tallying and that's something the top-seeded Tigers has had success with all season long against the Mules.

Central netted two goals in the first half and four more in the second to advance to the district championship game with a 6-1 victory over the Mules. The Tigers' high-powered offense outscored the Mules in three games this season, 18-2.

"They're an extremely well put together team all over the field," Poplar Bluff coach Derek Reasons said. "We had a game plan the first part of the (first) half. We did execute that gameplan but it just came down to a point that individually the soccer and the training they've had just took over."

The Mules (7-18-1) held the Tigers attack off the scoreboard for the first 19 minutes as the defense and goalkeeping of Jay Raulston held up.

The Tigers had a nice attack in the second minute of action but a wellpositioned Kenyan Francis stopped a shot in front of the open net.

Cape Central (17-9) finally broke through in the 21st minute as Garrett Duncan found himself open in front of the net for the goal. Just seven minutes later, Zach Zaruba sent a crossing pass to Josh Compas to make it 2-0.

Central scored four more unanswered goals in the second half as Zaruba scored twice, Zach Ray added one and Mike Denmark netted the last one for the Tigers. Zaruba has seven goals in the last two games against Mules.

But Poplar Bluff's season ended like it should. Senior Josh Thompson scored his team-high 17th goal of the season in stoppage time, ending his high school career on a bright note. The goal was setup by Alton Brookreson who got a good attack on Central goalkeeper Carlos Salas. With Salas out of position, Thompson took the rebound and scored on the open net from about 25 yards out.

"It was very good," Central coach Dan Martin said of the game. "The boys have worked very hard for this point. They're just constantly working on their fitness. I thought they played the entire game confident and everybody came out the game healthy."

The Tigers will play Seckman, which beat Jackson in penalty kicks after a scoreless tie, in the district final Thursday night.

Even though his team was very successful over Poplar Bluff this season, Martin came away thinking that Mules are a team to watch out for in the future.

"I'm happy to see what he is doing with his program," Martin said of Reasons. "It's good to get Bluff back up there and competitive. You can see he's making great strides with his team and that's phenomenal to see. You wanna see that."

After a stretch of games in which Poplar Bluff dropped 13 of 15 this season, the Mules end the season happy to get a win in district play over Northwest on Monday night and finished with two more wins then the previous season. The Mules won two of their last four games including a tough loss in overtime to state-ranked Notre Dame last Tuesday.

"We've got a great group of kids and I'm extremely, extremely proud of them," Reasons said. "They did accomplish a lot even though it might not seem like it."

Reasons said afterwards that he will miss his seniors who suited up for the last time Tuesday night.

"The biggest thing I'll miss about all the guys is their personalities," Reasons said. "They're fun to be around all the time. They don't take themselves to serious. Of course Thompson is gonna missed as far as a majority of our offense (goes). All the guys will be missed as individuals."