Football

PERRYVILLE, Mo. – With the weather still stifling and the Cardinals in a pennant race with that angst-causing club up north, it may not FEEL like football season but it most certainly is.

There is a reason that coaches in all sports repeat the adage “Your best player needs to be your hardest worker”; it’s because it’s true.

Kent Gibbs has been coaching football long enough to understand what is needed to win games. He began his career as a head coach in the early 1980s and his latest stop on that football journey is at Cape Girardeau Central High School, where he is in his first season.

High school football fans will have the opportunity to get their first look at football teams in the Missouri Bootheel later this week. Kennett, Hayti, and New Madrid County Central will compete in a four-team jamboree at East Prairie Friday at 6 p.m...

When the offense scores nearly seven touchdowns per game, any defensive prowess that certain football program exhibits often gets overshadowed. That might be the case for the average Jackson fan, but veteran Indian coach Brent Eckley sure as heck noticed what his defense did last season...

PERRYVILLE, MO. – Third-year Perryville football coach Blane Boss has waited a while to see what Evan Daugherty could do on the football field. He found out just how solid the junior Pirate athlete is this week.

Like any shopper, the Poplar Bluff Mules football program couldn’t pass up a good deal and will sport new jerseys this season. “We were talking about getting new uniforms and we were going to try to incorporate a new set into what we already had,” Mules coach David Sievers said. “Adidas had a real sweet deal so we decided to jump in with both feet.”...

SIKESTON — The wait is over. On Monday, another season of Sikeston football begins, as the first practice of the season is set for the Bulldogs. Terry Flannigan returns to the sidelines for Sikeston, after previous head coaching stops at Scott City and Chaffee...

An old tradition was delivered by fresh faces this season. In its final practice before the dead period where teams aren’t allowed to practice, the Poplar Bluff football team was treated to a feast of watermelons. “The watermelons were delicious,” said Poplar Bluff senior lineman Dylan Wells, who ate an entire watermelon by himself. “I’m going to take two home and there’s going to be one for my family and one for me.”...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. – The distance between the practice field at St. Vincent and the game field is only a few hundred feet, but second-year Indian football coach Tim Schumer measures it in years.

SIKESTON — Every summer, coaching changes tend to occur. In the area, there will be multiple new faces on the sidelines for their respective programs. At Sikeston, Terry Flannigan returns to the Bulldogs football team, after his previous stint at Chaffee. He replaces Kent Gibbs who, after 12 years with Sikeston, heads to Cape Central...

The Perryville football program hadn’t had much success when Blane Boss took over as the Pirates’ head coach prior to the 2017 season. And the brutally honest young coach didn’t make things any easier on the Pirate student-athletes.

The recruiting process between Southeast Missouri State football and Illinois high school athlete Justin Prusko didn’t take long. It seems both knew what they liked in each other when they saw it. “There is always that saying,” Prusko said, “there is no place like home. When I went (to Southeast Missouri State), it felt like home.”

Varsity football schedules are set for schools in the Missouri Bootheel less than six weeks before the start of the 2019 season. Kennett, Malden, Hayti, and Caruthersville have no changes to their schedules. All four programs will play the same schools in the same order as last season...

WARRENSBURG, Mo. — East Prairie head football coach Chad Jamerson patrolled the sidelines at the 43rd Missouri Lions All-Star football game on Saturday, in Warrensburg, Mo. Held at UCM Walton Stadium, five Southeast Missouri individuals represented the Gold team on Saturday...

After getting its first 7-on-7 of the summer rained out last week, Poplar Bluff hosted its on Thursday at Mules Stadium with Malden and Doniphan joining. The loosely scripted evening featured the traditional 7-on-7 passing drills, with the lineman at the other end of the field battling for impromptu lines of scrimmage. A couple of 40-yard races broke out, and in one instance, a back flip...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Leah Cauble added placed another trophy on her mantle on Saturday night. The all-time leading scorer in Missouri history won the Girls Basketball Athlete of the Year award at the Semoball Awards. Cauble led the Oran Lady Eagles to the Class 2 Quarterfinals, where they lost to Thayer 58-28. For her senior season, she averaged 37 points per game, 7.5 rebounds, and shot 62 percent from the floor...

Flashbulbs and excitement were in heavy supply as student-athletes from Southeast Missouri were honored for their achievements Saturday at the biggest sports awards show in the region. The Sixth Annual Semoball Awards presented by SoutheastHEALTH honored more than 120 athletes from over 50 schools in 25 different categories.

What I learned from living the initial 52 years of my life in the state of Indiana was that Hoosiers are passionate about three things: religion, farming, and sports. And depending on the time of year and whether the Indiana University men’s basketball team is underachieving or not, the order of those things could fluctuate.

60 minutes. That’s what separates Chelsea Vinson from obtaining something special in a sport she has loved since childhood.

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. — Earning all-state honors in one sport is a recognition that would make any athlete proud. However, earning all-state honors in multiple sports puts into perspective the amount of energy and passion an athlete has for numerous activities...

The Southeast Missouri State football program had its most successful season ever in 2018, as it won nine games, the last of which occurred in the NCAA FCS Playoffs. The Redhawks had six starters that are Missouri natives contribute to that success and several more in reserve capacities.

Two proposals passed at the 2019 Missouri High School Activities Association Election in May will alter the postseason playoff field for local high schools in the Missouri Bootheel beginning in the 2020-21 school year.

The stage is set for the 2019 Kennett Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. The latest selections to the Kennett Sports Hall of Fame will be recognized on Sept. 6 at Metz Cherry Stadium. The date coincides with Kennett’s first home varsity football game of the 2019 season against Gosnell, Arkansas...

SIKESTON — “Together we can.” That’s the motto that Sikeston assistant football coach Treston Pulley has for his brand new flag football league. A league that began play on May 26, Pulley is eager to get younger kids into the game that he loves. Being from the area is a bonus as well, which Pulley talked about being one of the essential reasons for starting what he hopes will be a summer tradition...

Hayti High School all-purpose man Tylor Wooden will continue his football career at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. Wooden made his commitment to the Bisons official in a ceremony at the school gymnasium Friday afternoon, May 3. Over the course of the Indians’ historical 2018 season, Wooden often displayed his world-class speed, compiling hundreds of all-purpose yards in receptions, interceptions and kickoff returns, as well as from the line of scrimmage. ...

Charleston’s Delontre Gillespie signed to Itasca Community College, in Grand Rapids, Minn., for football, on Thursday, May 1, 2019, at Clara Drinkwater-Newman Auditorium, in Charleston, Mo.

The Malden Green Wave didn’t have to look far to find its next head football coach. Justin Peden, who has served as an assistant football coach with the Green Wave for the past three seasons, was officially named the new head football coach at Malden earlier this week...

SIKESTON — Looking for a head football coach has not been something on Sikeston’s off-season checklist for the last 12 seasons. Now at Cape Central, former head coach Kent Gibbs accepted the position over one month ago, leaving the Bulldogs with a vacancy at the helm...

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. — The ongoing search for the next head football coach for the Portageville Bulldogs concluded last week, as Mark Jackson will take the reigns of the program. Jackson, a former Sikeston coordinator, and Kent Gibbs disciple previously coached at the high school level, with Buffalo High School, in Buffalo, Mo., and said that he is excited to return to the Bootheel area — where he is from originally...

CHARLESTON, Mo. — It has been nearly one decade since the Charleston football program has had new leadership. Entering the 2019 season, the Bluejays will look to build off of a successful 10-2 season, which ended with a 20-12 loss to Caruthersville in the Class 2, District 1 championship game, under first-year man Justin Hutchings...

CHARLESTON, Mo. — The Charleston football program is set to begin next season under a new head coach. Former head coach Brett Blackman accepted the Director of Football Operations and Equipment position at Southeast Missouri State, after nine seasons at the helm for the Bluejays...

By David Jenkins Standard Democrat SIKESTON — Throughout his career, Kent Gibbs has taken struggling football programs and turned them into winners. He will be trying to do that once again as the veteran coach has decided to leave Sikeston and take over the Cape Central football program next season...

Cape Girardeau Central School District turned to its rival for a new football coach, hiring Sikeston's Kent Gibbs to replace Arlen Pixley, the school district announced Tuesday in a news release. Pixley led the Tigers to two district championship games in three seasons, and won the 2016 Class 4 District 1 championship, before resigning in December with a 15-20 record at the school. Gibbs leaves Sikeston after 12 years with an 85-49 record and two Class 4 semifinal appearances in 2009 and 2010.

SIKESTON — Sikeston announced the Academic All-State nominees for fall sports at halftime of Thursday’s boys’ basketball game, at the Sikeston Field House. 22 student-athletes earned the honor from four different sports. To become an Academic All-State nominee, recipients need to uphold a cumulative unweighted grade point average of at least 3.50 and participate in 70 percent of the team’s games...

In a few days, basketball postseason begins for teams across Missouri, but for an hour Wednesday afternoon, the focus was back on fall sports. In a live one-hour radio show on SEMO ESPN, 55 student-athletes were announced as fall sports finalists for the 2019 Semoball Awards...

Sikeston athlete Tra Ranson, signed his National Letter of Intent to continue his football career at Lindenwood University, in St. Charles, Mo., on Tuesday, at the Sikeston Field House. Ranson finished the 2018 season with 637 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. He also caught 15 passes for 154 yards, and even took snaps under-center, after starting quarterback Gage Rolwing got injured. Ranson earned a spot on the All-Region First-Team as well. Last season, Lindenwood finished with a 4-7 record...

Meet the 16 members of the 2018 All-Southeast Missourian Football team

Jordan Kent was coming off a stellar junior season in which he caught the fifth-most touchdown passes in state history, but the Jackson wide receiver didn't get complacent. Following the 2017 season, Kent continued to work and developed chemistry with Cael Welker over the summer, a development that proved important when Welker took over as the Indians' quarterback in 2018...

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. — After seven years at the helm of the Portageville football program, Jeff Bullock is leaving. Bullock will be the new superintendent at Malden — his hometown and where he graduated high school — but he is leaving Portageville with many takeaways that he is most fond of having...

The Cape Girardeau Central football team will have a new head coach next fall. Arlen Pixley handed in his resignation last month after going 15-20 in three seasons. Under Pixley, the Tigers won one district championship and advanced to the championship game the following season. This year, a new-look Central team went 1-9...

CHARLESTON, Mo. — 7,892 is the number that Charleston’s Q’Nairies Anderson finished with after the conclusion of his senior season; becoming the school's all-time rushing leader and winning his second-consecutive Standard Democrat Football Player of the Year as well...

KENNETT, Mo. - The most successful Kennett football season in recent history was capped off with the annual football awards banquet Thursday night at the Kennett High School Cafeteria. Trevon Lemons was recognized as the Indian Football Most Valuable Player, Indian Football Offensive Lineman of the Year, and Indian Football Defensive Lineman of the Year. Lemons recorded 69 tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles, three punt blocks, and intercepted one pass his senior season...

It has been a long journey for Hayti’s Ivory Winters, but the perseverance and hard work paid off Wednesday when the three-time All-State football standout signed a National Letter of Intent with Indiana University, a major Big Ten collegiate program. ...

Charleston's Q'Nairies Anderson signed his National Letter of Intent to continue his academic and football career at Southeast Missouri State University on Wednesday, at the Clara Drinkwater-Newman Auditorium, in Charleston, Mo.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Former Sikeston Bulldogs’ football player Nathan Hampton got named to the 2018 Football Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes List on Friday. This award is given to players that receive a minimum 3.5-grade point average on a 4.0 scale, and have achieved junior academic status,...

It was quite a successful fall sports season in the Southeast Missouri area. The Advance volleyball team won its first-ever state championship, and Jackson football finished the regular season undefeated for the first time in over a decade before falling in the quarterfinals to the eventual Class 5 state champions...

The Missouri Football Coaches Association released their 2018 All-State Football teams with several local athletes being honored. In Class 4, Sikeston defensive end Tyreke Jamison was named to the third team. The senior finished with 73 tackles, including a team-high 20 tackles for loss with four sacks...

The Southeast Missouri Area Football Coaches Association recently released their all-region teams, with several local athletes receiving honors. In Class 2, Charleston’s 10-2 season was rewarded with several 10 being named to the all-region team. Senior Q’nairies Anderson was the offensive most valuable player in Class 2 after rushing for 2,838 yards and 38 touchdowns. The Southeast Missouri State University verbal commitment leaves the Bluejay program as the all-time leading rusher...

A slew of Dunklin County football players were recognized at the 73rd Poplar Bluff Gridiron Banquet at Black River Coliseum in Poplar Bluff Wednesday night. Kennett senior Trevon Lemons was selected as the SEMO South Lineman of the Year. Lemons had 69 tackles, two forced fumbles, two sacks, three pass breakups, and one interception his senior season...