Portageville wins Battle of the Bootheel 7v7 football tournament

KENNETT – The Portageville Bulldogs defeated Caruthersville to win the inaugural Battle of the Bootheel 7v7 football tournament at Kennett High School on Thursday, July 20, 2023.

The Kennett football team hosted Caruthersville, Malden, Piggott, Portageville and Sikeston for two and a half hours of action packed games. Kennett and Sikeston's junior varsity squads competed as well to round out the eight-team bracket.

Caruthersville placed second in the tournament while Kennett came in third after defeating Sikeston.

After winning the Class 1 District 1 championship last season, Portageville graduated seven seniors in the spring – all seven of whom started last year. However, the Bulldogs showed that they will remain a tough contender once again this fall.

“We won, so I can't be unhappy with that,” Portageville coach Ian Penrod said. “We can see some things we need to clean up, and we're seeing some positives and negatives out of players. It's just a great thing to have as we go through the summer to gauge ourselves and the progress we're making.”

The Bulldogs started out by taking down Piggott, moved on to Sikeston and finally Caruthersville to take home the Battle of the Bootheel Passing Tournament Champion trophy.

“We want to see if we can start cross training some of our kids,” Penrod said. “At this point, we're trying to get position versatility out of our kids and just get them to compete and understand how to play together as a team. If we do the little things right, the scoreboard will take care of itself at the end of the day.”

Caruthersville, still coming out of a rebuilding process, proved that they won't be an easy team to beat this season either. While the Tigers finished the 2022 season with a 4-5 record, second-year coach Dom Guglielmo said that his team is focusing on finding a “growth mindset” this season.

Caruthersville's Ryan Guest makes a pass during the Battle of the Bootheel 7 on 7 football tournament on Thursday, July 20, 2023.Christian Johnson, Delta Dunklin Democrat

“We're trying to instill the winning attitude back,” Guglielmo said. “We came out here to compete. Today, our goal is to work on us, because we're always going to play Tigers football regardless of the outcome. But we didn't drive out here today for anything less than a win.”

Caruthersville started the morning by beating Sikeston's JV squad, and then the Tigers took down Kennett by a margin of two points.

Stadium lights will turn on for the first football game of the season just over a month from now, and the Tigers are looking to compete with another team once a week as they finalize roster decisions.

“We took a huge step forward last year, but we need to take another big step forward this year,” Guglielmo said. “Every week, we need to find those little things that are holding us back from where we want to be and keep growing.”

For Kennett's young team, the hosts are working on settling in with a large crop of fresh starting players this fall.

Kennett quarterback Ty Jones throws the ball during the Battle of the Bootheel 7v7 football tournament on Thursday, July 20, 2023.Christian Johnson, Delta Dunklin Democrat

“We played a tight game with Caruthersville,” Kennett coach Andrew Webster said. “We had a chance to win it, but a couple drops forced us into the third place game. We've only got four seniors on this 7 on 7 group, one who it's only his second year playing football, so I'm not disappointed at all.”

With a brand new quarterback who stepped up in the final games of last season, among countless other open roster spots this year, Kennett defeated Malden in their first game. After losing to Caruthersville, Kennett turned around and won “by a good margin” against Sikeston for third place.

“We're really young, so we're here to learn and get better,” Webster said. “Overall, though, I think it went really smooth. Everyone got in three games, and I'd like to see this grow and get more teams next year. I think it could be a really special thing.”