A year later, nothing has changed for the Indians and Mules.
The last two unbeaten teams in SEMO North Conference play face off Friday night at Mules Stadium in a game that could also shape the postseason path for both teams.
Poplar Bluff (5-0) and Jackson (4-1), two district and conference rivals with high-scoring offenses, look to keep the scoreboard operator busy once again.
The Indians, coming off a 77-42 win at Farmington, are averaging 47.8 points and 462.4 yards per game.
"You've got to be sound when you match up with them," Mules coach Mark Barousse said. "Hopefully we can do that."
There is plenty on the line.
The winner can claim the SEMO North title with a Sikeston loss against Farmington. Jackson beat Sikeston 55-8 while the Mules host the Bulldogs for homecoming next week. The winner also gets an advantage come district playoff time.
Jackson has won the last six meetings against the Mules, who own the all-time series 44-42-7.
The last two have been epic battles of offense with over 1,000 combined yards in each featuring record-breaking performances. Last year, Zane Foust threw for 521 yards, most ever in a SEMO Conference game, as the Mules lost 41-27. That broke a record of 443 yards set by Tristen Francisco in the 2015 game, which Jackson won 50-48.
The Indians have given up 40-plus points in three of their five games this season. Jackson's lone loss was 45-19 at Lindbergh, currently ranked No. 8 in Class 6.
"We've got to move the ball and be able to score in the red zone," Barousse said. "How quick we score, I'm not going to try to control that, but if we can have eight or 10-play drives and run the football and keep them off the field, that plays to our advantage."
Jackson's offense is led by quarterback Cooper Callis. An All-SEMO selection last year, the senior is averaging 302.4 passing yards per game by completing 63.8 percent of his passes. He has 23 touchdowns to six interceptions and has also ran for three scores.
"He makes them go and he's really, really good scrambling," Barousse said. "He's got good receivers. There's four, five guys that catch it really well. Two of them that can play in space and make you miss."
Six different players have caught touchdown passes for Jackson. Terrico Johnson leads the team in catches (39), yards (460) and touchdowns (8) but Jordan Kent has also scored eight times among his 29 catches and 431 yards.
Jack Warren and Drew Moran also have multiple catches and have scored while running back Ethan Laster averages 16.7 yards per catch and has three touchdown catches.
Laster is averaging 8.2 yards per run, scoring four times and is on pace for a 1,000-yard season.
"He gets in space he can make things happen," Barousse said.
Jackson ran for 243 yards against the Mules last year with Laster carrying the ball eight times for 69 yards.
Callis threw for two early scores and finished with 254 yards on 16 of 26 attempts in the last meeting. The Indians held Poplar Bluff to just eight yards on 22 carries. The Mules finished with more total yards (524-497) but also more turnovers (5-4).
Last week in a 29-28 comeback win at Cape Central, the Mules fell behind following a pair of turnovers, one on an onside kick.
"Offensively we can't do what we did last week, gave them the ball twice inside our 30 yard line in the first half," Barousse said. "We can't afford to do that."
Jackson has forced 13 turnovers led by four interceptions from Cole Welker, an All-SEMO selection at defensive back last year. Nathan Brown was also an All-SEMO selection at linebacker last year and is Jackson's leading tackler.
Defensive lineman Justin Crane leads with five of Jackson's 19 sacks while Laster, a linebacker, has four.
Poplar Bluff's offense can be its best defense by keeping the ball out of Callis' hands with long drives, chewing up the clock and turf on the ground. In the last six meetings the Mules have ran for a total of 391 yards, cracking 100 in a game just once.
Isaiah Johnson has ran for 100 yards in each of the last three games for Poplar Bluff. The junior started at running back last week, running for 115 yards on 17 carries, to save senior RaShawn McCain for defense where he chipped in seven tackles and help shutout Cape Central in the second half.
The Mules forced three second-half punts and didn't let the Tigers past midfield to rally.
Forcing punts early against Jackson will be key, Barousse said.
"If you can get them off the field, you can make them go three-and-out, they don't get a rhythm going, it becomes tough on them," Barousse said. "They don't get as many looks, they don't make as many adjustments as fast. They want to be able to move the ball downfield and see exactly what you're doing and how you're playing different formations and try to take advantage of where you're weak at.
"As an offensive coordinator, if you only get three looks at something it's kind of hard because you're not seeing all the formations, you're not seeing everything," he added.
"The more three-and-outs you can produce the better. Those are just as big as the takeaways."