Sikeston defeats Central 21-0 in district showdown among unbeatens

Central's vaunted rushing attack finally met its match.

The Tigers, who entered averaging 340 yards rushing per game, struggled to gain yards and never found an offensive rhythm against state-ranked Sikeston in front of an estimated crowd of more than 11,000 fans at Houck Stadium.

The Bulldogs scored less than a minute into the game and plowed over Central 21-0 to hand the Tigers their first loss of the season in the Class 4 District 1 showdown.

"Their linebackers, their defensive line, not even close to what we've seen all year," Central quarterback Christian Cavaness said. "They're so much bigger, stronger and athletic than what we've seen."

Central finished with 76 yards rushing on 30 attempts. The Tigers only gained 3 yards rushing in the first half.

Central defenders Rodney Reynolds, center, and David Huffman take down Sikeston's Kyland Gross during the fourth quarter Thursday at Houck Stadium.

"They were filling the holes," Central lineman Chris Bird said. "Their speed. They're fast and strong and filled the holes. We just didn't do as good a job of blocking this game. But we're going to get them back. Hopefully we see them again and make some corrections."

Sikeston defensive tackles Michael Perkins and Corey Porter disrupted the Tigers' running game most of the night. Porter and Perkins bottled up most of the Tigers' runs up the middle.

"We knew it would be a challenge from the start of the game to come in and match their physicalness," Porter said. "We did that for the most part and we were successful."

Sikeston coach Kent Gibbs appreciated the effort of his two defensive tackles and their ability to open lanes for the team's linebackers to attack.

"They are good football players and they have a job to do up front," Gibbs said. "Part of their job is to take up space and take up the offensive line so our inside linebackers can play and make tackles. I think that's what we saw tonight. I do know that our defensive line played well and made a lot of plays."

Central defender Michael Reeder grabs Sikeston running back Darryl Howard during the first quarter.

Central leading rusher Keilon Moore was limited to 3 yards on six carries. He entered with 870 yards and averaged 10.6 yards per carry this season.

"We keyed in on a lot of specific players and a lot of their formations to where we thought we had a pretty good idea where they were going and what they were going to do," Porter said. "We focused real hard this week, a lot of film work and got after it."

Moore said Sikeston's ability to close gaps quickly helped stall the Tigers' running game.

"We had plays that we were really getting open, we was just missing a couple blocks," Moore said. "Usually the holes are there. They were there, they just closed up quick."

Central's offense found a little more success in the second half, but the Tigers could not break off any long runs, a staple of their success this season. Central's longest gain Thursday was a 33-yard run by Deonte Jenkins. The Tigers only had three other plays that gained 10 or more yards. They lost yards or were held to no gain on 15 of their 30 rushing plays.

"They were just quick off the line, beating us physically," Jenkins said.

Sikeston wasted no time jumping on the Tigers. Senior quarterback Trey Lewis faked a pair of handoffs then threw a pass to running back Darryl Howard that covered 40 yards on the first play from scrimmage and drew a roar from the Sikeston fans.

"The first play of the game, they did something we haven't even seen before with that halfback pass out of the backfield," Cavaness said. "That moment deflated us right off the bat."

Lewis took off running for a 34-yard gain on the next play and Howard capped the drive with a 3-yard scoring run to put the Bulldogs up 7-0 just 39 seconds into the contest and quiet the Central faithful. It was the first time all season that Central trailed by more than one point and the first time Central didn't score first.

"It's definitely a momentum factor when you can get up on the board first," Porter said. "We like going in there 7-0 from the start. It's just a good thing to keep your momentum flowing."

Sikeston had its chances to bury Central early. Janeil Hatchett dropped a pass in the end zone on fourth down to end the Bulldogs' second drive, and Lewis was stopped after a 10-yard gain on fourth-and-goal from the 15 on their next drive.

The problem for the Tigers was that they couldn't mount anything offensively. They only attempted two passes in the first half, and one was by Moore, his first attempt of the season, after a pitch from Cavaness.

"Whatever way our motion man was going, they'd slide that way," Cavaness said. "They'd come up and their linebackers did a great job of filling in the holes. They were just making every tackle. They weren't letting us get away from the tackles. They wrapped up and brought us down."

Sikeston returned to the end zone on its fourth possession when Lewis scampered in from 19 yards out. He added a 17-yard scoring run later in the quarter for the final score of the game.

"We just played well up front and kind of took it to them a little bit," Gibbs said. "We were able to get some big plays on offense early, stall them out."

Central senior Austin Davis picked off a pair of Lewis passes in the second half and set up the Tigers' best scoring chance. Jenkins broke off his 33-yard run to the Sikeston 9-yard line, but the Tigers were stopped on fourth-and-goal from the 5.

The loss ended the Tigers' chase for the Class 4 District 1 title but not their pursuit of a playoff berth. They need to win beat Perryville next week and have Sikeston knock off Farmington. If Sikeston lost to Farmington and Central defeated Perryville, the three-team tiebreaker would be used.

"I told the kids basically they have 24 hours to let this hurt, and they will let it hurt," Central coach Rich Payne said. "But we're not done yet."

In fact some of the Central players said they'd love a rematch against Sikeston, which could come in the second round of the playoffs.

"We're going to play them in about three weeks," Moore said. "We aren't worried about it."

Sikeston 7 14 0 0 -- 21

Central 0 0 0 0 -- 0

First Quarter

S -- Darryl Howard 3 run (Hunter Williams kick), 11:21

Second Quarter

S -- Trey Lewis 19 run (kick failed), 3:36

S -- Lewis 17 run (Janeil Hatchett pass from Lewis), :26

S C

First downs 17 6

Rushes-yards 49-301 30-76

Passing yards 105 19

Passes 5-12-2 4-10-0

Punts 1-16 5-33.8

Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-1

Penalties-yards 7-46 4-30

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Sikeston, Trey Lewis 13-135, Darryl Howard 17-128, Ray Clark 7-28, Kyland Gross 5-4, James Watson 6-7, Team 1-(-1). Central, Keilon Moore 6-3, Deonte Jenkins 7-45, Rodney Reynolds 4-2, Christian Cavaness 8-(-1), James Poindexter 5-27.

PASSING -- Sikeston, Trey Lewis 5-12-105-2. Central, Keilon Moore 0-1-0-0, Christian Cavaness 4-9-19-0.

RECEIVING -- Sikeston, Darryl Howard 1-40, Kyland Gross 2-8, Janeil Hatchett 2-37. Central, Andrew Williams 2-8, Zach Boerboom 1-8, Deonte Jenkins 1-1.