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Poplar Bluff travels to Sikeston for rematch with Bulldogs
Poplar Bluff gets a shot at redemption Monday night when the Mules travel to Sikeston for a rematch with the unbeaten Bulldogs.
Just 17 days after they met at Morrow Stadium, the two longtime rivals will face off again. This time, the stakes are much bigger with the winner advancing to the MSHSAA Class 4 quarterfinals.
"There's no way you can look at the first ballgame and say that's what's going to happen again," Sikeston coach Kent Gibbs said. "You do that and you're being silly."
The Bulldogs, now 11-0, won 28-0 at Poplar Bluff back on Oct. 23. Since then, the Mules (8-3) have worked their way into the playoffs and earned another shot at Sikeston.
"We just didn't feel like the first time we gave them our best effort," Mules coach Shane Kearbey said. "We didn't give them a true idea of what we can be capable of doing as a football team."
In a rivalry that dates back to 1907 but was interrupted for five years after World War II because it became a little too heated, Monday will be the second postseason game between the schools.
The teams split two meetings in 1985 with Sikeston winning in the regular season 27-7 and the Mules advancing to the state quarterfinal with a 17-6 win.
Poplar Bluff hopes history can repeat itself but this time around, the games are closer together. In '85, the first game was played in the fourth week of the season.
Sikeston's win in district play, however, could have ended a lot different for both teams.
There were seven combined turnovers. The Bulldogs came up empty in three trips inside the Poplar Bluff 20-yard line while the Mules wore down, giving up 22 points in the final 12:03 after Poplar Bluff's defense was on the field for 25 of the first 36 minutes.
Gibbs compared it to "slow-down basketball."
"The only way that works is if you're able to score and play good defense and then your offense kind of clicks without the mistakes," he added.
In the two games since the first meeting, Gibbs said his offense has cutdown on turnovers and penalties.
The Mules, meanwhile, have shown a knack for overcoming setbacks since losing to Sikeston.
The following week, Poplar Bluff won in the mud at West Plains then overcame two turnovers in the red zone while matching season-highs in fumbles and penalties against Festus.
"I was thinking we were doing everything we can to try to lose the game at times," Kearbey said. "We still battled back and find a way to win.
"I'm ready to see everybody go out there and all three phases of the game dominate. Lets see how good we are."
Sikeston's defense stopped the Mules in the first meeting, limiting Poplar Bluff's high-octane attack to a season-low 136 total yards.
It was another in an impressive string of performances by the Bulldog D this fall.
Sikeston has allowed just 20 points in the first half all season and 70 in all or 6.4 per game. Opponents are averaging 2.5 yards per carry and 3.0 yards per snap while the Bulldogs have forced 31 turnovers.
Poplar Bluff is 7-0 this season when holding an opponent to 14 points or less and the Mules have lost fewer games on the road.
"I think we're a better road team," Kearbey said. "Some of our best football has been on the road."
Six of the eight sectional playoff games in Class 4 are rematches between district rivals. The road team, or the team that lost the regular-season meeting, won just 3 of 12 such games last year in all classes. None of the district champions lost a rematch in Class 4, but the Class 3 champion last season didn't even win its own district title.
"I can tell you for us -- and this is the honest truth, Gibbs said, "it's a very scary ballgame for us."