SIKESTON -- Poplar Bluff finished with 82 yards of offense and 45 of that was on the opening drive.
The Mules recovered an onside kick to start the game and marched to the 1-yard line before a botched handoff led to a turnover. It was downhill after that as Sikeston won 34-0 on Friday in Sikeston.
Play was called with 11:29 remaining in the fourth quarter, just a few minutes into a weather delay.
"Not a whole lot to gain from coming back out. I wanted to finish the game so bad because I wanted to see if the kids would keep fighting. But every time the lightning flashes the clock starts over. We're looking at coming out at 10 p.m. now and you have to think about the safety of the kids," Poplar Bluff coach David Sievers said.
"And (Sikeston) coach (Kent) Gibbs understood. I told him I really wanted to finish the game because I wanted to see if my kids would play hard. He said he understood and he'd let it be my call. I talked it over with (Poplar Bluff Athletic Director Kent Kieth) and we just thought the best thing for the kids was to pull the plug. The only thing we were going to see is if the kids would stand up or not because the game was over at this point."
It is Poplar Bluff's worst loss since losing to Vianney 56-21 in the playoffs to finish the 2016 season, and the first time the Mules have been shutout since losing 42-0 at Jackson in 2014. The Mules (2-1, 0-1 SEMO North) had won four in a row against Sikeston (2-1, 1-0 SEMO North), including a 27-0 win last year in Poplar Bluff.
"With it being the first loss of the season, we didn't know how to take it. Now we have got to lock in, take practice more serious and be game ready at all times," Poplar Bluff quarterback Josiah Kilgore said.
Shemyron Townsend returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown on Aug. 31 against Riverview Gardens, and Sikeston refused to kick it deep until the game was largely decided.
The Bulldogs opened with an onside kick and either chipped or squibbed it all but one time.
Luke Welborn dove on that opening kick, giving the Mules excellent field position at the Sikeston 46.
The Mules needed seven plays to reach the 1-yard line. Only one of those plays, an incomplete pass, went for less than four yards. Isaiah Johnson ran for 29 yards on three carries. The Mules went to him again on second and goal at the 1, but the handoff turned into a fumble and Sikeston dove on it.
"We drive down and we were doing what we want early and we get down there and we have a bad exchange and it just went downhill," Sievers said.
Poplar Bluff had three first downs on the drive. It would earn three more the rest of the game.
"It is the first time all year long we got punched in the mouth. We just didn't have them ready to go for some reason. It is frustrating, but a lot of it is, we haven't been pushed yet this year," Sievers said. "It is going back to fundamentals. We didn't block, we didn't tackle, we didn't run to the ball on defense and we didn't execute at all on offense after that first drive."
Sikeston burned nearly seven minutes off the clock during a 13-play touchdown drive.
"The turnover down there on the 4-yard line, that's a huge momentum changer," Gibbs said. "If they go up 7-0 you never know what happens based on our results from last week."
Sean Blanchfield made it 14-0 with a pick-6 early in the second quarter and Sikeston tacked on a third score with five minutes left until halftime.
"I preached at halftime that I didn't care what the final score was, but we were going to play better in the second half," Sievers said. "I told them I loved them and I'd do anything for them, but I was going to pick up their stuff if they didn't play hard."
The Bulldogs scored on their first two drives of the second half while the Mules had three punts and 12 total plays of offense in the second half.
The Mules went 1 for 9 on third downs and 1 for 2 on fourth downs.
Johnson finished with 47 rushing yards on 11 carries. Kilgore added 17 yards on six carries and Townsend had six yards on four carries.
Steven Pierce was 4 for 12 passing for 14 yards and an interception. Kilgore, L.J. Thomas, Quinten Bell and Xzavier Bartlett each caught a pass for six yards or less.
Poplar Bluff's longest gain, including kick and punt returns, was Johnson's 16-yard run on the opening drive.
"They were just flying to the ball, playing faster than us, more physical than us. We weren't coming off the ball well. We just have to pick up our game," Kilgore said.
Chris Barker, Cole Laws and Wyatt Lazallier all had tackles for loss for the Mules.
Sikeston finished with season-high 359 yards of offense and 284 rushing yards as the Bulldogs nearly doubled the Mules in time of possession.
"We saw all the plays that we saw at practice, it is just a faster tempo than we are seeing on scout team. That is something we have to pick up and learn while we are playing the game and didn't pick up on that, I didn't think at all during the game," Poplar Bluff linebacker Cameron Sweeney said. "It is a wake up call for us. I think it is something we are going to learn from and improve."
Sikeston quarterback Gage Rowling had 119 rushing yards and two touchdowns and was 6 for 10 passing for 75 yards and a touchdown.
Jackson Kuykendall had 13 carries for 63 yards. Sean Blanchfield and Tra Ranson, who both took snaps at quarterback in the second half, ran for 71 yards and 31 yards respectively.
"This is a big win," Gibbs said. "We haven't beat Bluff in several years. So from that perspective alone it kind of gets your confidence for when we play them down the road when you play them. And also coming off our performance last week, it was nice to see our kids bounce back and do what they needed to do. But I will tell you, there's a huge difference in the way we practiced this week and the way we practiced last week. This Poplar Bluff week, we just had good practices. We did what we needed to do. Nobody was worrying about anything besides getting better. The week before we weren't where we need to be. Hopefully we've learned on that and we will continue and practice and get better as we go."