Central's season ends with a 37-8 loss to Sikeston

~ Standard Democrat

SIKESTON -- Apollo Patterson ran for a career-high 225 yards with four touchdowns to lead Sikeston past Central 37-8 in the season finale for both teams Thursday night at Public Schools Stadium.

The Tigers entered the game with a chance to tie for the Class 4 District 1 lead but the tiebreaker system eliminated any chance of reaching the state playoffs, making Thursday's game one for pride for both teams.

West Plains made it all a moot point anyway with a 41-27 victory against Poplar Bluff to cap a 3-0 run in the district.

The Tigers finished 2-8 on the season and 1-2 in both the district and the SEMO Conference.

The Bulldogs racked up a season-high 453 yards of offense, including 364 on the ground, also a season-high. Fullback Acie Dixon added 59 yards on 11 carries.

"Sikeston runs the ball well," Central coach Lawrence Brookins said. "If Sikeston doesn't do anything else well, they still run the ball hard. Apollo and Dixon are guys that we couldn't tackle."

The Tigers, who have dealt with injuries for the entire season, saw much of the same Thursday. Leading rusher Brandon Twiggs went down in the second quarter with an ankle injury after just five carries for 45 yards.

Quarterback Tyrone Reece, who had replaced freshman signal-caller Garrett Stevens after a hand injury forced him out, ended up leaving the game in the third quarter with a leg injury.

For Sikeston, it was arguably the Bulldogs' top performance of the year. They had zero turnovers, had their most prolific game on offense in terms of yards, and the defense kept the Tigers out of the end zone for most of the night.

The Bulldogs also intercepted three passes.

Penalties brought back two other Sikeston scores -- a 95-yard kick return by Felante Larry and a 68-yard pass to tight end Ross Merideth.

Central had 286 yards of offense but twice had drives of more than 10 plays end on downs in the red zone.

"We've seen that over and over this year," Brookins said. "We would have a good offensive drive going and then something happens."

Sikeston jumped to a 12-0 lead when quarterback Bryce Wibbenmeyer found Larry for a 22-yard touchdown.

Patterson set up his 1-yard TD plunge with an 83-yard jaunt.

The Tigers cut the lead to 12-6 on a 32-yard pass to Eric Ennis with 6:42 left in the second quarter.

Patterson added his second touchdown, a 7-yard run to extend the lead to 18-6.

A safety accounted for the Central's only other points with 31 seconds left in the half when bad shotgun snap went into the end zone.

Patterson added touchdown runs of 30 and 13 yards in the second half. Michael Geralds scored the Bulldogs' final touchdown with 2:10 left in the game.

Reece finished 11-of-30 passing for 141 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Blake Slattery relieved Reece in the third quarter and was 4-of-10 passing for 61 yards with two interceptions. Ennis led the Tigers with 84 yards receiving on five catches.

Larry caught three passes for 79 yards.

Sikeston finished 3-7 for the first time since 1989 and was 1-2 in district play and conference play.