Poplar Bluff

After three weeks at home to open the season, the Poplar Bluff football team will spend the next three Friday afternoons on the bus. The Mules head to north St. Louis County this week to face a Ritenour team that won last year’s meeting 54-13. “We got out work cut out for us,” Poplar Bluff coach David Sievers said...

Sikeston's Emma Drury and Poplar Bluff's Alex Ketcherside won the fan balloting for Semoball Athletes of the Week for the week ending Sept. 15. Drury led the female candidates with 895 votes after she had a home run, three RBIs and three runs scored in a 15-0 win over Saxony Lutheran. She also had a triple and an RBI in a 9-4 loss to Perryville...

Lexi Rubel and Natalie Timpe nailed seven kills apiece as the Notre Dame volleyball quickly rebounded after dropping the first set to come away with a 23-25, 25-19, 25-18 win over Ste. Genevieve on Tuesday in Cape Girardeau. Rylee McClintock...

WEST PLAINS, Mo. — Poplar Bluff held off the Zizzers from forcing a deciding third game Tuesday night as the Mules won 25-23, 26-24 on the road. The Mules (7-3) had beaten the Zizzers 25-22, 25-15 on Saturday in the West Plains Showdown, which Poplar Bluff finished fourth...

The second time through Notre Dame’s lineup proved to be a difficult task Tuesday afternoon for the Poplar Bluff softball team. The Bulldogs scored nine times in the third inning and added a five-run fifth to beat the Mules 16-1 at Bobby Strenfel Field...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Megan Witt and Emma Drury came up big in a clutch situation on Tuesday night against Cape Central. After Sarah Keller led off the sixth inning with a single, and Jordi James and Naudia Lazcano were promptly hit by pitches, Witt gave Sikeston the 6-5 lead on a sacrifice fly...

With a first-and-goal at the 3-yard line, the Sikeston Bulldogs were looking to punch in late in the first quarter to take the lead Friday night. Two snaps later, it was Poplar Bluff celebrating in the end zone. DJ Dennis recovered a fumble by the Bulldogs and on the next play, Poplar Bluff quarterback Kannon Carr found an open Devin Gatewood for a 90-yard touchdown...

PERRYVILLE, Mo. – Third-year Perryville football coach Blane Boss may feel like kicking a wall at times, as his Pirate squad is being besieged by injuries for the second straight season. However, he isn’t admitting any frustration publicly.

Ella Overstreet carded a 3-over-par 75 to place second individually as the Jackson girls golf team finished nine strokes ahead of the host Falcons to capture the championship of the Rockwood Summit Invitational Tournament on Thursday at the Crescent Farms Golf Course in the suburban St. Louis area...

After falling behind by 12 points in the opening game, the Poplar Bluff volleyball team answered the alarm. The Mules couldn’t complete the comeback in the opening game but managed to win the match with key late-game runs to fend off Bloomfield 18-25, 25-22, 25-19 at the Senior High Gym...

SIKESTON AT POPLAR BLUFF Records: Sikeston 1-1; Poplar Bluff 1-1 Series History: Sikeston leads 56-36-4 Last Meeting: 2018, Sikeston won 34-0 Last Week: Sikeston lost to McCluer North 36-0; Poplar Bluff defeated Riverview Gardens 48-8. Notes: Offense was a struggle for the Sikeston football team last week, as the Bulldogs got shut out by McCluer North in the second-straight meeting. ...

Alexa Werneck of Dexter and Lane McLevain of Cooter were voted the female and male Semoball Athletes of the Week, respectively, for the week ending Sept. 7. Werneck, who plays volleyball for the Bearcats, received 399 votes after registering 13 kills (.333 hitting percentage), five blocks and three digs in Dexter's 2-1 victory over Jackson...

Over the summer the Poplar Bluff coaching staff was looking to add depth to the offensive line with junior Gavyn Hays. “Shows you how smart we are because we knew we were going to be short on the line, numbers wise,” Mules coach David Sievers said. “And so we had talked about making Gavin a tackle.”...

East Carter County’s Makenna Moore tossed a complete game and gave up just one earned run on four hits as the host Redbirds flew to their fourth win of the season in the 2-1 victory over Jackson on Tuesday in softball action in Ellsinore, Mo. Moore struck out...

New Madrid County Central sophomore quarterback Matt Riley was voted the semoball.com Football Player of the Week for Week 2 of the high school season. Riley accumulated 592 votes after completing 14 of 22 passes for 295 yards and three TDs in the Eagles' 46-6 win over East Prairie on Friday...

Following a weekend in which they found the back of the net once in three games, the Poplar Bluff Mules soccer team got goals from six different players in their home opener Tuesday. Alex Ketcherside and Hayden Pinderski each scored twice while Ketcherside added an early assist in Poplar Bluff’s 8-0 win over St. Paul Lutheran at Mules Stadium...

Jackson kept pressure on Poplar Bluff all night. The few times the Mules looked like they were going to release it and make a rally, the Indians paused, kept their composure, and applied some more. Poplar Bluff led 2-1 in the early stages of both games, but never after that as the Mules fell to Jackson 25-19, 25-12 Tuesday at the Senior High Gym...

KENNETT, Mo. - The Kennett Indians seventh grade football team fell behind the visiting Poplar Bluff Mules 8-0 late in the second quarter but refused to be denied a victory in its season-opener Monday at Metz Cherry Stadium. Kennett responded by scoring a touchdown in the final minute of each half as it rallied past Poplar Bluff 14-8...

In a small home meet, a growing Poplar Bluff boys swim team picked up a pair of wins and 54 total points on Tuesday at the Black River Coliseum. “We scored a lot more points than we have before, which is super exciting,” Mules coach Julia Dragon said. “This year, we met the goal of being able to have a person in every single event and the only thing we missed this time was the 200 relay just because we were short one swimmer (due to an ear infection.)”...

The Cape Girardeau Central and Notre Dame boys swimming teams made quite a splash at Saturday’s Cape Rock Invitational at the Central Municipal Pool.

By BRIAN ROSENER Daily American Republic IRONTON, Mo. — Poplar Bluff’s Jaden Deaton and Dexter’s Margo Nea ran away from the pack at the Arcadia Valley XC Invitational on Saturday. Deaton won by 47 seconds, cutting 44 seconds from his second-place time last year as a sophomore. He ran the 5,000-meter course in 17 minutes 5.9 seconds...

Once the Mules got running Friday night there was little stopping them. Poplar Bluff's four running backs combined for nearly 400 yards on the ground and seven touchdowns as the Mules beat Riverview Gardens 48-8. "We felt that we could run the ball at them," Mules coach David Sievers said...

SIKESTON — Nayla Bonner had an impressive afternoon for the Sikeston softball team on Thursday. The freshmen pitched a complete game, allowing eight hits and three earned runs while striking out three and giving up three walks. She also provided a key at-bat, with a two-out RBI triple in the second inning that capped off a five-run frame and set the tone for the early stages of the game, in the Bulldogs 7-5 win at the Sikeston Recreation Complex...

BENTON, Mo. — In a rematch from the Class 2 Sectionals one year ago, the Kelly softball team held its home-opener against East Carter at Kelly High School. Kelly Ivy allowed two earned run, on seven hits. She walked one batter and struck out one, and was the loser in the decision...

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — The Poplar Bluff tennis team got off to a good start Thursday afternoon in doubles play and finished a sweep of Sikeston as the Mules earned their first win of the season. “Everyone showed more confidence today,” Mules coach Missy Cox said. “Our serves, forehands and backhands were much stronger and fluid.”...

The sun came up Saturday morning and the Poplar Bluff football team practiced. The Mules’ season didn’t come to an end after a 34-27 loss to state-ranked MICDS on Friday night. “We didn’t finish. We had our chances offensively and defensively to do what we needed to do to win the game and we didn’t do it,” Mules coach David Sievers said. “And the kids were hurting Friday night.”...

The Mules were more energized on Wednesday than first-year coach Aimie Simmers had ever seen them. After two back and forth games, Poplar Bluff dominated Game 3 to beat North County 26-24, 21-25, 25-15. “They brought their energy tonight,” Simmers said. “I have never seen them that amped up.”...

Kennett High School kicker Camden Pritchett was voted the semoball.com Football Athlete of the Week for Week 1 of the high school season. Pritchett collected 620 out of 2,469 votes cast online after connecting on 7 of 7 extra-point attempts in the Indians' 49-0 victory over Fredericktown in the season opener...

UNION, Mo. — Poplar Bluff overcame a three-goal deficit but a penalty kick sank the Mules 4-3 in their season opener at Union. The Wildcats led 3-1 at halftime but Poplar Bluff tied it on a penalty kick by Alex Ketcherside for the junior's second goal...

When the Poplar Bluff volleyball team couldn’t quite shake a pesky Puxico squad Tuesday night, senior Haley Slaughter served up the answer. The senior recorded three aces and held serve for eight straight points to close out the first game and had four straight aces to break a tie in the second game as the Mules opened the season with a 25-17, 25-20 home win...

Poplar Bluff's Jaden Deaton won his race Saturday in the season-opening cross country meet while Alexis Richardson finished in the top 10. Deaton covered the 2.35-mile course at Jackson City Park in 12 minutes 27 seconds to win the junior race at the Jackson Invitational, which features races for each grade and a shorter distance than a normal 5,000-meter meet...

Poplar Bluff made one stop to keep a fourth-quarter lead but the MICDS Rams found a way with 8 seconds left. Reagan Andrew completed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Nate Smith to rally the Rams 34-27 at Mules Stadium. With 3:04 to play, the Rams pulled within a point on an 11-yard run by Smith. MICDS elected to go for 2, but Poplar Bluff's Garrett Lazalier stopped the runner to preserve the lead...

Following three weeks of fall camp, high school football players throughout Southeast Missouri finally get to compete with the scoreboard turned on tonight.

POPLAR BLUFF — Dexter tennis topped Poplar Bluff in the season opener for both teams. In No. 1 singles, Dexter’s Courtney Northcutt beat Poplar Bluff’s Clarissa Varner 8-2. The Bearcats also won at Nos. 3, 4, and 5 singles, and swept doubles. Poplar Bluff’s Simone Anders beat Kyla Propst 8-6 at No. 2 singles, and Sabrina Hurst beat Maci Comfort 9-7 at No. 6 singes...

Cross country teams around the state will have a new end-of-season destination this fall and Poplar Bluff’s Jaden Deaton looks to be there. After placing 64th at the state meet as a sophomore, Deaton can join nine previous Mules that qualified for state in multiple years. If he does, it will not be in Jefferson City...

The Poplar Bluff soccer team has been working on conditioning so much during the preseason that one of the players thought they could keep up with the cross country team. The soccer Mules met the challenge earlier this week, running a workout with the cross country team on the track...

Poplar Bluff’s new volleyball coach Aimie Simmers saw all the talent the Mules had and decided that a 6-2 rotation could work. Only it didn’t this summer when the team started playing it. “Summer was not fun, but I think the more we play with it, the better they get,” Simmers said...

Whenever the Poplar Bluff football team is preparing to play a team that runs an option-style offense, assistant coach Jeff Schuchardt gets to have some fun. “He was an old option guy and so whenever we face an option team Coach Schuchardt gets to be the option quarterback...

Poplar Bluff’s Kiley Bess verbally committed Monday to play basketball for Saint Louis University. “Through this whole process, I have continued to ask God to open and close the right doors for me. My goal has always been to play Division 1 basketball and He has made that dream come true,” Bess said in a statement on Twitter. ...

The first time the Poplar Bluff girls tennis team ran a half-mile lap around the Senior High during a recent practice, a steady stream slowly walked through the parking lot to the courts and some much-needed water. When the team did the same run recently, senior Eva Bedell noticed a difference...

Poplar Bluff High School teams will be among the largest schools this fall after MSHSAA released district assignments. The Mules are once again in the largest classification for soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball. The Mules football team will again be in Class 5 District 1, but with only three other teams — Fox, Seckman and Jackson. It is one of three districts that feature only four teams in the state’s second-largest classification...

The swimming season has not even started and the Poplar Bluff Mules have already seen an improvement in the second year the program has returned to competition. After barely having enough swimmers for one relay, nine guys are in the pool as the team prepares for competition...

Poplar Bluff junior cross country runner Jaden Deaton doesn’t run to garner attention for himself. “He studies the sport,” Poplar Bluff cross country coach Beth Lewis said of Deaton. “He loves the sport. He lives for the sport.”

A few hours before preseason jamborees got underway Friday night some schools in the Missouri Bootheel learned they will be battling new opponents when the state playoffs begin later this fall. The Missouri High School Activities Association released 2019 class and district assignments for most fall sports Friday...

By BRIAN ROSENER Sports Editor The Poplar Bluff football team will be in a hurry this fall. The Mules want to get to the line, snap the ball and play. They’re in a hurry to reach the end zone, stop the opposing team and get the ball back. They’re in a hurry to improve because the district playoffs are only 10 short weeks away and there’s a SEMO North Conference title on the line...

FESTUS, Mo. — Cole Laws got a birthday gift Friday night. Before his Poplar Bluff football teammates sang “Happy Birthday” in the post-game huddle, the linebacker got to go out and actually hit somebody that was not his teammate. “It is nice to hit somebody else for a change,” Laws said following a preseason jamboree...

Savannah Hicks sat on a bucket during the first practice of the softball season. Sidelined with a knee injury, the Poplar Bluff senior still got up for that first morning practice. “I wish I was out there,” said Hicks, who suffered an ACL tear during soccer last spring and was also limited as a freshman before undergoing open-heart surgery...

With the two leading rushers from last year’s team having graduated, the Poplar Bluff Mules are looking to fill a void in the backfield. “Probably the most competitive position we have right now is the running back position,” Mules coach David Sievers said. “We’ve got four or five kids that are all competing.”...

With players sitting on the turf at Bobby Strenfel Field following their first practice of the season Monday morning, Poplar Bluff softball coach Lisa Boyer laid out her expectations of them. Heading into her 15th season as head coach of the program, Boyer, who will retire at the end of the school year, was presiding over her final first practice...