Park Hills spoil Mules home opener

The Poplar Bluff High School Mules football team didn’t allow a little heat to stop them from competing on Friday night at Mules Stadium.

The Mules faced off against the Park Hills Rebels, and after falling short the previous season, the Mules looked to even the score. Despite the effort, the Mules didn’t make enough plays and fell to Park Hills 34-13.

Head coach Dave Sievers said the effort was there, but the constant mistakes kept them from making any type of run to capture the win.

“We just weren’t disciplined enough,” Sievers said about the Mules performance. “We just made too many mistakes and gave a really good football team too many chances. We had them on the ropes at halftime, but when we came back out, we made some unwise plays. We can't beat good teams the way we played. It’s just not going to happen.”

With a heat advisor in effect, the kickoff time moved back an hour, but both teams stepped onto the field, ready to compete under the bright lights for their first game of the season.

The Rebels snuck into the endzone first with a 60-yard punt return from senior Jobe Bryant, giving Park Hills a quick 6-0 lead, which carried over to the end of the first quarter.

Jais Soto picked up a 13-yard punt return for the Poplar Bluff High School Mules football team as they took on Park Hills for the season opener.DAR/D'Courtland Christian

The Mules struggled to move the chains, and their luck would begin to trickle down after throwing multiple interceptions early in the second quarter.

Due to a few penalties, the Rebels capitalized on the Mules miscues to land a 20-yard touchdown from Park Hills’ Kannon Harlow for a 14-0 lead.

The Mules began to ramp up only minutes before the half as they started to push up the field with a chance to punch their first touchdown of the night.

Despite the slow start, the Mules would finally get on the scoreboard as Jay Edmondson connected with Romeo Wontor for a 12-yard touchdown pass, which cut the score 14-7 at the half.

As the momentum seemed to switch over the Mules, the Rebels quickly responded with a 30-yard run from quarterback Casen Murphy and back-to-back touchdown catches from Bryant and Harlow, proving that the Mules comeback window was long gone.

However, the Mules continued to push ahead as senior Logan Hite picked up his first touchdown of the season with a five-yard run across the goalline, cutting the lead 13-28 to start the fourth. Regardless of the strong start in the final quarter, it wouldn’t be enough to rattle the Rebels.

The Mules combined for 100 rushing yards, with senior Kolyn McBride leading with 63 yards, and combined for 203 passing yards as Wontor had eight catches with 129 yards with one touchdown. Edmondson threw 18/34 on 203 yards and had one passing touchdown.

Darius Graham and Kolyn McBride stand at the front of the pack as they prepared to take on Park Hills for their season opener.DAR/D'Courtland Christian

Sievers said the Mules had a solid game plan for the Rebels but never recovered from their rocky start.

“When we're making mistakes like we did, it's tough to make anything happen that will stick,” he said. “Our goal is to run the football, and we really never got on track. I don't think that's who we are, and I hope it was just nerves because we still have a chance to have a very promising season, but we have many things to fix.”

The Rebels combined for 165 yards rushing and 148 yards passing. Murphy threw 12/21 on 148 yards with two touchdowns.

As the Mules move forward with their season, Sievers said it’s important to focus on one game at a time as they return to the drawing board to correct their mistakes and be ready to play mentally.

“I think we played hard,” Sievers said. “I think we are in pretty good shape for the most part. I believe we just couldn't establish our footing and allowed them to push us around, and we can’t allow it to happen. When we take care of our non-football mistakes, we can return to playing Poplar Bluff football correctly.”

The Mules will be on the road next week to take on Valley View in Arkansas at 7 p.m.