FARMINGTON, Mo. -- Logan Bell's first throw Friday night was perfectly placed to a streaking Tyson Cox to catch in stride and the Poplar Bluff Mules never looked back.
After scoring 12 seconds into the game, Bell and the Mules kept their foot on the gas in beating Farmington 50-21 in their SEMO North Conference opener.
"They gave us some things and we were able to take advantage of, so there were some good things," Mules coach Mark Barousse said.
Bell threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to Cox on the first snap and the two hooked up again midway through the second quarter for a 76-yard touchdown for a 29-0 lead.
The Poplar Bluff quarterback threw just 11 passes, completing seven, but ended up with 247 yards. Bell also ran for four touchdowns, the last he set up with a 61-yard kick return.
"I probably should have waved it off for a fair catch but I just took it and kept on running," said Bell, who escaped two tackles 22 yards apart after fielding the short kickoff.
The Mules (4-0, 1-0 SEMO North) also ran for 327 yards led by Isaiah Johnson's 113 as the junior broke 100 yards for the second straight game.
"The O-line played good, I was pleased with them," said RaShawn McCain, who ran for 65 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown.
"I was happy with our defense tonight because we stepped up and made plays whenever we needed to."
Cox intercepted two passes for a second straight game while Myanza McCain also picked off a pass. Makarius Bell recovered a fumble at his own 13-yard line in the fourth quarter after making a fourth-down tackle at his own 4-yard line earlier with the Mules leading 14-0.
Farmington (2-2, 0-2) put together a 19-play drive that featured a pair of fourth-down conversions that needed measuring. On the third fourth down of the drive, a fourth-and-4, Bell got to the running back for no gain as Cameron Jones helped with the stop.
"That was huge," Logan Bell said. "Just to get the momentum to stop, they ran all the way down the field and to stop them on the goal line is a huge deal for the defense."
The Knights got the ball to start the drive after forcing Poplar Bluff's lone punt of the night. On third down, it appeared as if Farmington's Tycen Gray scooped up a lateral pass fumbled and returned it 33 yards to cut the Mules lead in half. But it was ruled a forward incomplete pass.
Poplar Bluff needed just four plays to score twice. RaShawn McCain's touchdown was set up by a 31-yard catch by Myanza McCain and a 10-yard run by Brett Barousse, who finished with 80 yards on five carries.
After the fourth-down stop, the Mules marched 96 yards in nine plays, facing just one third down. Logan Bell scored on a 3-yard run with a block from RaShawn McCain to lead 21-0.
Cox intercepted a pass at his own 22-yard line, then two snaps later made an over-the-shoulder catch down the sideline for a 76-yard touchdown. On the point-after, Cox, the holder, took the snap and beat everyone to the right pylon.
"(Cox) is a heck of a football player," Farmington coach Erik Kruppe said. "He's sneaky fast. Faster than people think he is. On that long vertical down the sideline, you would have thought the quarterback had overthrown him but he went and got that football when you thought there was no chance in heck he was going to be able to get that."
Farmington's corner with the assignment of guarding Cox was a sophomore making his first start due to one of several injuries the Knights had suffered over the past two weeks.
Still, Farmington cut Poplar Bluff's lead to 29-14 following a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs by Dylan Allen and quarterback Nathaniel Link, who finished with a team-high 96 yards rushing and threw for 203 yards.
The two scores sandwiched Logan Bell's first career interceptions after 46 attempts. The senior ended a short return with a body-slamming tackle.
"It started when he threw that interception, he got mad then he came downfield and made the play," RaShawn McCain said. "After that he started going off."
When the Mules got the ball back with 1:45 left in the half, Bell orchestrated a 62-yard scoring drive for a 36-14 halftime lead. Brett Barousse got out of bounds after a 16-yard run before Bell ran for 9 more then hit Cox with a 28-yard pass. With the clock running, Bell avoided a blitz and scrambled inside the 10-yard line. After another Bell run, he scored on a 2-yard run with 19 seconds to spare.
In the same game last year, Bell suffered a season-ending knee injury.
"A lot of hard work went into rehabbing it," Bell said. "I kind of had a, I guess you could say, a vengeance for them, but, all together the team played great."
Makarius Bell, who led with 13 tackles, stopped a fake punt on Farmington's first possession of the second half to set up a three-play, 41-yard scoring drive capped by Logan Bell's 4-yard run.
The Mules lost fumbles on their next two drives after Cox and McCain each had interceptions. Link's 25-yard touchdown run cut Poplar Bluff's lead to 43-21 but Logan Bell took the ensuing kickoff 61 yards to set up his fourth touchdown.
The Mules committed a season-high three turnovers, leading to 14 of Farmington's points.
"I don't like us turning it over," Coach Barousse said. "I think we dropped it on the ground twice and threw an interception. Ball security. We get somebody down we've got to be able to protect the ball. That bothered me a little bit."