Football

Fans of the Jackson football team have gotten used to winning. The Indians have won their last 17 games straight, their last 33 regular-season games and have a 57-8 record since 2016; including a five-game winning streak against the Cape Central Tigers...

SIKESTON AT POPLAR BLUFF Records: Sikeston 2-1; Poplar Bluff 2-1 Last week: Sikeston lost to Farmington 31-14; Poplar Bluff lost to Jackson 50-32 Series history: Sikeston leads 56-38-4 Last meeting: 2020, Poplar Bluff won 30-9 Notes:Sikeston will look to rebound from their first lost of the year against a Mules squad they last defeated in 2018. ...

It’s homecoming this week for Poplar Bluff High School as the Mules host Sikeston on Friday night. “It’s great for the community and it’s great for the school that we get to have all of our assemblies and everything,” Mules coach David Sievers said...

As Tambria Wilson lined up on the outside shade of a much larger Hillsboro offensive tackle, Cape Central assistant Steve Hemby barked orders from the sideline. An eager and undersized Wilson took Hemby's direction as she carried the disposition of a defensive end looking to make a game-saving stop, though the scoreboard told a different story...

Moments into Kennett’s wild 40-38 win over Ste. Genevieve last Friday, Indian senior LaTrevion Thompson exhibited his athletic brilliance.

Passing Cameron Marchi, Jackson — 18-27, 286 yards, 5 TD, 1 INT Christian Schaaf, St. Vincent — 7-18, 145 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT Gavin Venable, Scott City — 6-15, 123 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT Eli Glueck, Chaffee — 6-8, 35 yards, 1 INT Mark Panagos, Scott City — 1-1, 15 yards...

This week's Southeast Missourian Football Player of the Week is Jackson senior receiver Kannen Turley. Turley played a pivotal role in the Indians' offense en route to the 2020 Class 5 state championship, and this year is no different. The senior receiver hauled in seven passes for 192 yards and three touchdowns in the Indians' 50-32 win over SEMO North Conference rival Poplar Bluff on Friday...

--- CLASS 5 DISTRICT 1 CLASS 4 DISTRICT 1 CLASS 3 DISTRICT 1 CLASS 2 DISTRICT 1 CLASS 1 DISTRICT 1 --- A look at rankings from a 10-member panel of media members from around the state with current record, points based on votes with first place votes in parentheses and last week’s ranking...

An over-flowing parking lot, RV’s, grills, lawn chairs, televisions and hundreds of fans would make one think Dexter High School was being taken over by a college football game Saturday. In reality Charles Bland Stadium was invaded by the Heartland Youth Football League. The eight team league was initially scheduled to be playing the jamboree at Kelly High School, but a late scheduling conflict forced the move to Dexter...

Quarterbacks and linebackers zipping across Southeast Missouri high school football fields on Friday weren’t yet born. Most of Southeast Missouri State’s players were infants and toddlers. They’re aware of the magnitude of Sept. 11, 2001, the most somber day in American history, but didn’t experience the real-time shock and heartbreak of millions as smoke billowed from the Twin Towers...

STE. GENEVIEVE – Where to start when telling the story of Kennett’s 40-38 thrilling football victory at Ste. Genevieve on Friday.

CHAFFEE, Mo. – The Chaffee football team has improved significantly since third-year coach Will Daffron took over in 2019. But the Red Devils aren’t quite where they need to be just yet. Chaffee held Kelly to just 17 points through three quarters but was unable to capitalize on multiple turnovers and miscues by the Hawks, falling 31-0 on Friday night at Mark Whitaker Memorial Field...

The snowball picked up momentum in the opening four minutes but really got rolling early in the second quarter Friday night. Jackson scored twice in the span of 53 seconds, taking advantage of a fumble recovery and short field, to sweep away Poplar Bluff 50-32 at Mules Stadium...

SIKESTON, Mo – For the sixth straight year the Farmington Knight had Sikeston’s number. After playing even with Farmington going into the half mistakes started to mount for the Bulldogs, leading to 17-unanswered points that allowed the Knights to hold on for a 31-14 win...

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. — The Portageville Bulldogs rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat East Prairie for their first win of the season Friday night. Trailing 24-14 at halftime, Portageville took over the line of scrimmage in the second half, scoring 16-straight points to earn the 30-24 win...

MALDEN — Malden quarterback Rylan Bell left the season-opener against Kennett in the second quarter with a rib injury and threw three interceptions with no touchdowns against Kelly in Week 2. Friday went better. Bell was 16 for 31 passing for 300 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions to lead Malden to a 49-14 win over Charleston in the Green Wave's home opener...

CARUTHERSVILLE – Brad Gerling thought this chapter of his life had closed. He coached football at Caruthersville High School from 2005 to 2009, but after moving into an administrative role with the school system (he is currently the assistant superintendent), he had put his headset in the closet years ago. Ditto for former Tiger assistant coaches Brad Treece, Stacy Bradshaw, and Lee Bethune.

The Chaffee football team has started its season 1-1 for the third straight year under third-year coach Will Daffron, but the Arkansas native has far more confidence in his team this year than the previous two. Despite taking a 48-8 beating from Charleston last Friday, Daffron believes his team has what it takes to take down the 2-0 Kelly Hawks on Friday night at Mark Whitaker Memorial Field in Chaffee, Mo...

FARMINGTON AT SIKESTON Records: Farmington 1-1; Sikeston 2-0 Series History: Sikeston leads 23-20-1 Last Meeting: 2020, Farmington won 25-7 Last Week: Sikeston beat Dexter 11-9; Farmington beat Potosi 23-18 Notes: Sikeston is off to a 2-0 start for the second consecutive season but is looking to avoid the 8-straight losses that followed last season. ...

In the early 1970s, nobody in the SEMO North Conference could stop Cape Central. The Tigers won four league titles, winning 28 straight against conference rivals. It was the longest run since Sikeston dominated the 1950s, but in 1973 the streak was snapped in a loss to Poplar Bluff...

HAYTI – The evolution of Hayti senior quarterback Tray’von Thomas continues, much to the pain of the Indian opposition this fall.

The Southeast Missourian Football Player of the Week for Week 2 of the 2021 season is Jackson quarterback Cameron Marchi. After being limited to just four series against Roosevelt, the senior quarterback was able to truly show what he could do with the new-look Indians’ offense in a 42-0 road victory against Hillsboro on Friday night. Marchi was 14-of-18 on the game with 270 yards and four touchdown passes...

Passing Cameron Marchi, Jackson — 14-18, 270 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT Devin Keller, Scott City — 13-29, 243 yards, 2 TD Christian Schaaf, St. Vincent — 8-19, 143 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT Rilaynd Graham, Perryville — 7-10, 91 yards, 1 TD Eli Glueck, Chaffee — 1-4, 5 yards...

By BRIAN ROSENER Daily American Republic Jackson remained atop the state media football rankings in Class 5 on Monday while Hayti moved up a spot to No. 4 in Class 1. Jackson, the defending Class 5 champions, extended its winning streak to 16 games with a 42-0 win at Hillsboro on Friday night. The Indians have won 32 straight regular-season games, including 13 straight in SEMO North Conference play heading into Friday’s conference opener at Poplar Bluff (2-0)...

HILLSBORO, Mo. -- The Jackson Indians faced their first challenge of the season against the Hillsboro Hawks. Looking at the scoreboard, you may not think it was much of a challenge with the Indians winning 42-0 on Friday night, but it provided coach Brent Eckley an opportunity to see how well his team will play against adversity...

PERRYVILLE. Mo. -- The Perryville Pirates' coaching staff had one mission coming out of the locker room at halftime on Friday. Run the ball exclusively, mainly behind senior running back Deven Lukefahr. A late fourth-quarter rally by Windsor was thwarted in the final seconds and Perryville hung on to win 28-20 on Friday night...

SCOTT CITY, Mo. - When Mark Panagos wasn't dancing around a host of St. Vincent defenders, Scott City's gifted sophomore running back was mostly held in check. Compounding the Rams' offensive inconsistency on Friday night was hobbling quarterback Devin Keller, injured late in the third quarter when the junior was beginning to hit his stride...

POPLAR BLUFF — Darius Graham and Chris Matlock picked off passes while Nathan Bunton and Kolyn McBride recovered fumbles as the Poplar Bluff defense forced turnovers on DeSoto’s first four possessions Friday night. The Mules ended up with nine takeaways — including two by Payton Rogers and a fumble recovery in the end zone by Dace Wisdom — rolling to a 55-0 home win over the Dragons...

HAYTI – Hayti High School football coach Dominique Robinson hasn’t achieved what he has over five seasons with the Indians by tolerating lackadaisical play from his teams.

CHARLESTON, Mo – Rebounding from a season-opening loss to East Prairie, the Charleston Bluejays didn’t let visiting Chaffee hang around long Friday night. Taking advantage of numerous Red Devil turnovers the Bluejays built a 20-point halftime lead before cruising to a 48-8 turbo-clocked win to move to .500 on the season...

DONIPHAN — Jordan Jarrett ran for four touchdowns and Tanner Pierce threw for two more, all in the first half Friday night, as the Kennett Indians rolled past the Doniphan Dons 61-7. Jarrett, a senior, carried eight times for 113 yards and had his longest run of the night (62 yards) called back on a penalty...

Despite falling 40-0 in its season opener, St. Vincent coach Tim Schumer is just excited for his team to have another opportunity to step on the field. The Indians may have their hands full, however, as they travel to Scott City to night to take on the 1-0 Rams...

The Cape Central football team was expected to take the field Friday night on the road against St. Charles West. Now the Tigers won’t be playing at all. According to coach Kent Gibbs, the entire team is being quarantined due to a COVID-19 outbreak. “We had several kids previously quarantined,” Gibbs said. ...

NEW MADRID – If President Joe Biden feels he has had a rough go of it lately in his duties, he’ll get little sympathy from Portageville High School football coach Ian Penrod.

Dexter at Sikeston Records: Dexter 0-1; Sikeston 1-0 Last week: Dexter lost to Scott City 27-6; Sikeston defeated Caruthersville 48-14 Series history: Sikeston leads 53-21 Last meeting: 2020, Sikeston defeated Dexter 28-21 Notes: Sikeston rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat Dexter last year, returning two interceptions for touchdowns. ...

At first glance, the DeSoto football team looks as if it has lined up in the I-formation. But when the ball is snapped, it becomes something different. “It’s kind of a unique formation,” Poplar Bluff coach David Sievers said of the Mules’ next opponent...

After completing one of the most storied seasons in MSHSAA history, the Jackson High School football program graduated a TON of talent and leadership. “You don’t take turns,” veteran Indian coach Brent Eckley said. “The best team wins. It’s not whosever turn it is.”

Despite putting together a 5-5 record last season — compared to the team's historic 11-2 record in 2019 — 13-year Scott City coach Jim May was happy with where his team ended up.

Scott City junior quarterback Devin Keller had a solid 2020 campaign but is poised to improve for the 2021 season.

Monday afternoon the Sikeston Junior Varsity Football Squad traveled to Cape Girardeau for the opening game of their season. It was a perfect night for late August football, 80 degrees, overcast and turf. The Junior Dogs played hard all night, however ultimately fell to the Tigers late in a dramatic fourth quarter 20-12...

There are few businesses anywhere in the world that haven’t had to think differently over the past couple of years in this ever-changing environment that we are all immersed in, more than likely, forever. And Semoball.com is not immune to that. The website devoted to providing sports fans thorough coverage of sports throughout Southeast Missouri is still going to make that its mission on a daily basis, however, the internal pieces are going to be doing some shifting moving forward.

Jackson is again atop the state media football rankings in Class 5. The defending state champions received all 10 first-place votes from media members from around the state. Only defending champion Lamar in Class 2 also received all 10 first-place votes...

Each week the Southeast Missourian will name a football player of the week, and, beginning next week, a male and female athlete of the week for other fall sports. This week’s Southeast Missourian Football Player of the Week is Chaffee’s Isiah Fitzgerald...

I had heard much about attending a Jackson Indians home football game over the years but had never experienced it myself. Until Friday night, that is. The atmosphere at “The Pit” was electric, as fans of all ages packed themselves into the stands. You could feel the energy radiating from the crowd, awaiting the arrival of the defending Class 5 state champions.

JACKSON, Mo. - The Jackson football team wasted little time lighting up the scoreboard in the first defense of its 2020 Class 5 state championship. The Indians refused to let up, scoring 62 points in the first half en route to a 80-6 victory over the visiting Roosevelt Roughriders Friday night at The Pit...

CRYSTAL CITY, Mo. — The Chaffee Red Devils overcame a 14-0 first-half deficit Friday night to defeat Crystal City 20-14. Chaffee coach Will Daffron made some adjustments at halftime in a game he said was one of the “wildest games” he had ever coached...

PERRYVILLE – Brent Roth hasn’t drifted far from his roots.

PERRYVILLE - Only once in the past decade-plus, has the Perryville football program enjoyed a winning season (2017).

BENTON — The Kelly High School football team is coming off its best season yet, going 8-3 last year, and look to build off that success in 2021.