McFarland, Mules run past Kennett

KENNETT — Makel McFarland and the Poplar Bluff offense gobbled up yards Friday night while Kennett kept coming up a yard — or less — short.

McFarland ran for a career-high 212 yards and scored three times in the first half as Poplar Bluff won 35-14.

“We stepped up and got it done when we needed to, both sides of the ball,” Mules coach David Sievers said.

“Defense kind of set the tone early.”

Kennett had three drives stopped on fourth down by the slimmest of margins and each were inside the Poplar Bluff 20-yard line.

“All night it was like we were really close to making it a really close game and doing things,” Kennett coach Andrew Webster said.

“Tonight, Bluff was better than us.”

After an 0-4 start to the season when they struggled to score 22 total points in that span, the Mules posted at least 28 points for a fourth straight week.

The Mules (4-4) had a season-best 406 total yards of offense, half on McFarland’s 20 carries.

Poplar Bluff built a 21-point lead before Kennett moved the chains for a first time.

William Gaines-Parker returned a kick 89 yards for a touchdown to get things rolling for the ninth-ranked team in Class 3.

On the next snap, Brooks Nigut intercepted a pass to set up Kennett’s first scoring drive that took six plays and 49 yards.

Daniel Boatman, who reached 1,000 rushing yards for the season in the second half, made it a one-score game with a 7-yard touchdown run with 3:51 left in the half.

After that, it was all McFarland and the Mules.

He returned the ensuing kickoff 35 yards to midfield and finished the drive with a 27-yard touchdown run, his third of the half, for a 28-14 lead.

“A few minutes there it kind of got sketchy but other than that, I thought we controlled the game pretty well,” Sievers said. “A few too many big plays but I’m never, ever going to take points off the board.

“We’re kind of in a good groove right now.”

Poplar Bluff’s defense made a fourth-down stop to end the half at the Mules 11-yard line when Darius Graham tripped up Kennett’s receiver and Spencer Nunn brought him down a yard short.

The half also started that way.

Kennett recovered the opening kickoff to start at the Poplar Bluff 27-yard line but on fourth-and-8, the Mules brought down the receiver inches short and declined a penalty.

“It’s all about inches and tonight we were a few inches short a whole bunch,” Webster said.

Poplar Bluff was also stopped on a fourth-and-2 at the Kennett 33-yard line.

Three plays later, however, Nathen Bunton recovered a Kennett fumble to set up Poplar Bluff’s first score.

McFarland took the handoff on the next play, found an opening and made two defenders miss before cutting back to the middle for a 37-yard touchdown run.

“He’s got stupid (good) moves with what he can do,” Sievers said.

McFarland also scored on a 25-yard touchdown run after quarterback Mason West threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Graham as the Mules scored on consecutive drives early in the second quarter.

West completed 10 of 17 passes for 141 yards in the first half and did not play after halftime.

Sievers said West may have suffered a concussion.

Graham caught four passes for 70 yards, Chris Matlock had 65 yards on five catches while Romeoh Wontor had a pair of receptions and Torrence Williams had another. Jay Edmundson completed 2 of 5 throws for 16 yards in the second half.

Amare White returned from an ankle injury suffered in the second game of the season and finished with 63 yards on 10 carries. His 3-yard touchdown run set the final score and completed a 12-play, 96-yard scoring drive early in the fourth quarter.

“We kind of took over up front in the second half,” Sievers said. “I think the kids blocked pretty well all night.”

Kennett quarterback Tanner Pierce completed 12 of 27 passes for 141 yards when he had time.

The Mules got four sacks including one by Matlock, Kayson King and Lincoln Warren.

“They basically Kennett’d us,” Webster said. “That’s usually what we do is bring copious amounts of pressure. They kind of did our own thing to us a little bit.”

Boatman had 65 rushing yards and caught a pass for 16 more while Duncan caught five passes for 70 yards and Nigut four receptions for 50 yards.

The teams combined for 10 punts, trading three-and-punt drives twice to open the second half.

Je’Micko Toliver recovered a Mules fumble at midfield but Kennett was stopped on fourth-and-4 when a stampede of Mules hit Pierce for a loss.

Kennett’s Derione Davis recovered the opening kickoff as the ball bounced away from the Poplar Bluff player but that drive ended four plays later.

“I’ve got to stop telling the kids we’re going to take the ball (on the coin toss) and go score because every time I say that something blows up on us,” Sievers said.

“That football, it bounces funny. It doesn’t bounce real true sometimes.”

Poplar Bluff faces another road test, at state-ranked Hillsboro, to end the regular season. Only 6.5 points separate the top seed and fourth spot in the MSHSAA Class 5 District 1 standings.

Kennett hosts Valle Catholic, one of three ranked teams in the MSHSAA Class 3 District 1 field that also features a 6-2 Ste. Genevieve team.

Said Webster, “I know we’ve got a tough one next week but hopefully we rebound and keep playing good football.”