Poplar Bluff's reward for last week's win over Cape Central is the Mules' toughest opponent of the season in Jackson.
"The kids have been in a pretty good mood this week. They played through the losses and practiced through the losses pretty well, but it is always good to get a win, especially at home. The food tastes better, the suns a little brighter, the bumps and bruises don't hurt as much after a win," Poplar Bluff coach David Sievers said. "Jackson plays really, really fast. They are not overwhelmingly physical. They've got good team speed and their biggest deal is they play really fast."
Poplar Bluff's previous biggest challenge, Ritenour, beat the Mules 54-13 in week 4. Sievers said while Ritenour was more athletic than Jackson, the Indians are a better team overall.
"I'm excited to go up there. I'm anxious to see how the kids respond to our biggest challenge of the season," Sievers said. "If we can match their tempo and the speed they play at, I think we'll be OK."
Jackson's no-huddle offense will make substitutions difficult, and its spread formations will stretch the field, putting the Indians in space and isolating the Mules.
"They spread the field. They do a lot of tunnel screens, they do a lot of play-action stuff. Their quarterbacks are always real active. It is kind of like the Cape Central kid where you think you have him bottled up and then he's rolling out and stuff. They don't run a tremendous amount of plays, but they do it from a lot of different formations," Sievers said. "I keep reminding the defensive coaches, we can't stop everything they do. We just have to stop what they are really good at. Unfortunately with Jackson, they are good at a lot of stuff."
Jackson (6-0), which is sixth in Class 5 in the most recent media poll, has scored at least 42 points in every game and won by at least 27 points in every game. The Indians pounded Farmington 49-0 last week to clinch the SEMO North Conference, beat Sikeston 56-14 in week 4 and beat Cape Central 49-7 in week 3.
Jackson receiver Jordan Kent is coming off a huge game against Farmington where he caught 10 passes for 195 yards. Quarterback Cael Welker was 14 for 18 passing and also ran nine times for 58 yards, good for second on the team behind Daniel Dickerson's 10 carries for 150 yards.
"The thing we are worried about most is their passing game. No. 19 (Kent) is a stud. He's the one we are going to focus on, trying to keep him under check," Sievers said. "Because they spread the field so much, their kids are in space all the time. Between their schemes and the tempo at which they play, we are going to have to be really sound."
Preparing is also difficult because of the number of formations Jackson runs. They may run the same play out of four formations, but in practice the scout team needs to show each of those formations.
"The stack of Jackson cards (for the scout team) is always pretty thick," Sievers said. "You can't just tell them they are going to run the same play out of 3-4 different formations. They need to see it."
The plan for the Mules (3-3) is to limit possessions, shorten the game, control possession and field position, and be patient on offense. Should Poplar Bluff win, Jackson likely won't have scored 42 points.
"They count on their outside linebackers and corners to provide a lot of run support. The past couple years they have challenged us to try and run the ball and that is what we are going to try and do," Sievers said. "We are going to try and control the game as best we can offensively by trying to hold the ball. Offensively we are going to have to be really patient. We're going to have to accept 3-4 yards at a pop."
To help in the run game, Sievers is making some adjustments to make the offensive line a little bigger and a little more athletic. Ben Norwood is sliding over from center to guard, Dylan Wells will play center, and Kendrick Gordon will play left tackle instead of left guard.
"All the fronts they show are covering the center and covering the tackle, so we are going to try to get a little bigger and more physical there," Sievers said.
He added that the team will dress a few freshman this week and starting defensive end Chris Barker will likely be out due to a concussion. His replacement is still a little up in the air, Sievers said, but Isaiah Johnson will likely start.
Last year, Poplar Bluff beat Jackson 29-28 in the regular season and Jackson ended the Mules' undefeated season with a 56-49, triple overtime thriller in the first round of the district playoffs. Sievers said the loss isn't on the team's mind that much, mostly because most of the current roster didn't play in that game.
"Right now I keep telling the kids, we are going to play as hard as we can, we are going to play as long as we can, and we are just going to see what happens," Sievers said. "Just trying to get them to where we think they can play hard. We're going to hopefully be able to line up, do what we want to and do it fast."