On the first play of the final drive of the game, with Chaminade ahead 34-13 and less than a minute on the clock, the Mules took a play off.
Most of the crowd had abandoned the rainy game and didn't see Chaminade's inconsequential short run, but it had Poplar Bluff coach David Sievers running up the sideline shouting "Don't you quit. Don't you quit. Play hard. Play hard."
The next two plays, the Mules defense was literally growling and barking like wild dogs during the pre-snap action. Harrison Brown and Preston Taylor combined for a tackle for a one-yard loss against Chaminade's second team and a pumped-up Mules defense celebrated like it was the first quarter as the clock expired on their 34-13 home loss Friday on Senior Night.
"I just preached to the kids all week long, we are going to compete and see what happens. I just kept telling them, we don't care about the score. We are going to compete and see what happens. By God, we did," Sievers said. "That's as good as we've played in a month. We played better than we did against Cape Central, and we beat them."
Chaminade (4-4) led 21-0 at halftime and 34-0 early in the fourth quarter. Poplar Bluff (3-5) only had three drives in the game go for more than 10 yards and the only one to go for more than 25 was their final drive of the game for 61 yards and a touchdown.
"When we went down 21, they could have folded. In weeks past, I don't know if we would have responded the way we did tonight," Sievers said. "If we can play like this the next couple of weeks, we should be fine."
Chris Barker got the Mules on the scoreboard when he jumped a screen pass and returned the interception 55 yards for a touchdown.
"As soon as I saw the running back plant his foot and turn around I knew it was a screen pass, so I came up, got it at its highest point and ran my hardest," said Barker, who added that while he was running for the endzone he was just hoping nobody was going to catch him.
Barker also had four tackles and two for loss, including a nine-yard loss where he raced up field and blew up a toss sweep..
The Poplar Bluff coaches hollered at Barker before the play that he "was going". Barker ran into the backfield on the snap and easily got past the blockers for the tackle.
"I saw the full back and running back both go my way and I knew I had to get the running back because he would be far back there and he'd try and make a move. I just tried to make a good open field tackle," Barker said.
Poplar Bluff took over on downs at their own 39 with 3:29 left in the game to set up their other touchdown.
Shemyron Townsend started the drive with a 19 yard run and soon added an 11 yard run.
Freshman quarterback Kannon Carr completed passes to Cole Christian and Xzavier Bartlett, as well. The deep pass to Bartlett went for 24 yards and was Carr's longest completion in the game.
It put the Mules on the Chaminade 4 yard line and then Townsend took a carry around the left tackle for a touchdown.
Carr finished 10 for 27 passing for 78 yards and three interceptions in his first varsity start after entering last week's game just before halftime for injured quarterback Josiah Kilgore.
"I'm kind of disappointed in myself with the picks. But it was definitely a good experience for me to get me ready for next year and the next games to come. I'm glad to have it with my teammates," said Carr, who battled perpetual rain all night. "Couldn't get a grip on the ball, couldn't throw it very far. The team we were playing, they were good so they were just waiting for the ball to come down."
Chaminade quarterback Brady Cook, who is committed to Missouri, was 10 for 25 for 167 yards, a touchdown and an interception, giving the senior and Division I commit a 76.4 QB rating compared the freshman's 45.0 rating.
"Now that he has a game under his belt against a really good school, I'm hoping he'll continue to grow, and I'm sure he will," Sievers said. "Even though he didn't have a tremendous amount of success tonight, I think we kind of saw what he is capable of."
Townsend led the Mules with 36 yards on nine carries and Isaiah Johnson had 28 yards on 14 carries. Chad Casey and Barker each caught three passes from Carr. Casey finished with 25 receiving yards to lead the team and Barker had 11.
Poplar Bluff had 134 total yards compared to Chaminade's 316.
The Mules combined for nine total yards on their first five drives, which ended in four punts and a pick 6. Ten of Poplar Bluff's 15 drives lasted three plays or fewer.
The Mules defense stiffened after breaking up a trio of deep passes from Chaminade just before halftime. The Red Devils had three of their six drives up to that point gain at least 45 yards, and they'd only have one drive the rest of the game go as far.
"The kids seemed to have a good time playing football tonight," Sievers said. "We haven't had that a whole lot this year. Maybe we just needed seven preseason games to get going."