Senior Night didn't last long for the Poplar Bluff soccer team.
The Mules trailed after five minutes, gave up four goals over the final 14 minutes of the first half before Farmington closed out a 10-0 win with the final two goals within 31 seconds in the 55th minute.
"Hats off to them, they have a great team," Mules coach Rusty Crafton said of the state-ranked Knights.
"Unselfish, distributed the ball. I can't say anything bad about that team. May not be the best team we've played all year but they're dang good."
The Mules (4-14) also suffered a 10-0 loss to Rockwood Summit, No. 1 in Class 3 state coaches rankings, but lasted 71 minutes on the road.
Farmington (16-3), ranked No. 7 in Class 3, ended the game with 26:19 remaining.
Bryce Sancegraw scored twice to become Farmington's all-time career scoring leader with 101 goals.
The Knights scored five minutes after kickoff on a break then got a give-and-go run between Jackson Schrum and Tristan Stotler to set up the second goal in the 10th minute. Schrum added an assist when the senior put Cameron Friend on a break in the 13th minute for a 3-0 advantage.
The Mules were able to thwart three corners and a run by Sancegraw before he added to Farmington's lead in the 27th minute then converted a free kick just outside the 18-yard line three minutes later.
"We were trying different formations, just trying to slow the ball down," Crafton said. "That's where your athleticism comes in, your speed. They had us.
"We had no answer for them."
Trailing 7-0 at half, the Mules caught Farmington offside three times and managed just three shots on the other end.
Nik Rowland took a free kick for the Mules late in the first half from 40 yards but couldn't connect with a teammate before the ball was scooped up by the Farmington keeper.
Poplar Bluff suffered its seventh shutout of the season and allowed two-plus goals for the 13th time.
"We do a lot of possession drills but it's like when we get out here it don't incorporate to the field," Crafton said.
Prior to the game the Mules honored seniors Daniel Lozano, Matthew Burcham, Walter Hickey and Juan Ventura. Lozano leads the team with seven goals and has an assist.
"I know I keep saying it, but we're going to continue to grow," Crafton said.
The Mules will host Lindbergh (10-7-1) at 3 p.m. Saturday and then close out the regular season Oct. 19 against CBC, which beat Poplar Bluff 7-1 to start the season.
"That's what we were talking about, do we want to cake the schedule, have cupcake games and then it doesn't do anything come district time?" Crafton said. "We try to make the schedule harder because that's the caliber teams you're going to see in districts."
Farmington won the junior varsity game 3-1.
VOLLEYBALL
The Mules earned the third seed out of the North Division at the SEMO Conference tournament Tuesday night.
Poplar Bluff opened with wins over Sikeston (25-8, 25-22) and Cape Central (25-16, 25-18) before splitting with Notre Dame. The Mules took the first set 27-25 then lost 25-23. It was the only set the Bulldogs dropped in taking the top seed.
The Mules lost 25-13, 25-13 to Jackson, which picked up the second seed.
Poplar Bluff improved to 20-10-1, the first 20-win season since 2014 for the program.
Hannah Vaughn had 67 assists in the eight sets. Haley Slaughter, Kiley Bess and Sophia Rowland each ended the night with 17 kills. Khelie Spence chipped in 15 with four blocks while Doni Everts had five blocks and 12 kills.
Everts and Bess each had five aces in the matches while Vaughn chipped in four as the Mules finished with a 93.5 serve percentage.
The Mules will face Kennett (17-8-3) at 5 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals. The winner advances to play either top-seeded Notre Dame or the New Madrid Central-Charleston winner.