Poplar Bluff football game at Rolla canceled

The Poplar Bluff football team will be practicing Friday afternoon instead of getting ready for a game at Rolla.

The Mules were notified just before the loaded onto the bus for the trip that Rolla was canceling the game because too many of its players were unable to play due to COVID-19 concerns and contact tracing.

“Obviously we’re disappointed,” Mules coach David Sievers said Friday afternoon.

Sievers said he and his staff were working the phones looking for a team to possibly play Saturday, but that it was unlikely given the short notice.

“We’re either going to get ready to play tomorrow or we’re going to lift and run after school and just start over again for next week,” Sievers said.

Poplar Bluff Athletic Director Kent Keith was contacted by Rolla officials as the team was preparing to load buses for the trip, Sievers said. At first, it appeared that the Bulldogs were going to play with a number of their starters out. Rolla was to celebrate homecoming Friday, but an additional number of players were then deemed unavailable and the decision was made to cancel the game at that point.

The Mules were originally scheduled to play at home against St. Mary’s of St. Louis on Friday. But teams in the St. Louis area were delayed in starting their season due to restrictions over the virus.

Rolla’s original opponent for Friday, Parkview, canceled its game last week and this week due to concerns over COVID-19.

Poplar Bluff’s first opponent of the season was also a late change when Illinois decided to move its season to the spring. Instead of hosting O’Fallon, the Mules opened the season with a 42-0 win over Agapé.

DeSoto, which hosted Poplar Bluff in the second week of the season, also had to cancel its game this week due to a positive test of COVID-19 for a player on the team.

The latest bump in the road comes as the Mules start preparing for the second half of the season and, hopefully, a postseason in Class 5 District 1. Poplar Bluff will face a district opponent next week in Farmington and currently sits in third place behind the 4-0 Knights with Jackson (4-0) leading the six-team standings for the top seed.

Mehlville and Oakville have yet to play while Seckman is 1-1.

“Everybody we find that’s open we’re calling them,” Sievers said. “We are going to try and jump up again tomorrow if anybody is willing to play.”