RED DEVILS STICK 38-32 LOSS ON PORTAGEVILLE, SURPASS '98'S WIN TOTAL (PREP NOTES)

PORTAGEVILLE -- G.P.: Does that stand for Great Performance or what?

G.P. Glueck scored four touchdowns -- one rushing, one receiving and two on kickoff returns -- and forced a key fumble as the Chaffee Red Devils downed Portageville in a thrilling 38-32 win Friday night.

Portageville led 13-6 at halftime, but the game turned into a track meet after that.

The Red Devils -- who surpassed last year's win total and are now 2-2 for the first time in a long time -- scored the winning touchdown with 3:38 left in the game when quarterback Travis Handback scored on a 1-yard run.

"We actually scored quicker than we wanted to," said Chaffee coach Allan Horrell. "It was definitely not over at that point."

Portageville moved the ball down the field all the way to Chaffee's 15-yard line, but Glueck -- a linebacker on defense -- forced a fumble which was recovered by Blaine Swinford.

"Talk about needing some Maalox," Horrell said of the back-and-forth game.

Glueck answered two quick Portageville scores in the third quarter with kickoff runs of 75 and 76 yards, respectively. Glueck's second return tied the game at 26 heading into the fourth quarter.

Glueck finished with 219 all-purpose yards.

"Without him we would've been dead meat," Horrell said. "He was our answer."

In the fourth quarter, Chaffee pushed the score to 32-26, but missed the extra-point kick.

One of the biggest plays of the game came after Portageville tied the game at 32. Chaffee's Tommy Stidham blocked the extra point kick. It was Stidham's fifth extra-point block this season.

"He's dynamite in a small package," Horrell said of the 5-6, 145-pound senior. "When he blocked it, it breathed life into us. We marched it right down their field."

On offense, Stidham ran the ball 34 times for 132 yards and a touchdown. According to Horrell, "He earned every bit of it. They were hitting him hard."

Handback finished the game completing 9 of 17 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns.

Handback threw his nine passes to five different receivers. Ben Boitnodt led Chaffee with two catches for 76 receiving yards.

Jeremy Lynn, who also caught three passes for 32 yards, carried the ball three times for 31 yards. Glueck ran the ball four times for 28 yards and a touchdown and caught two passes for 40 yards.

Chaffee hosts rival Scott City -- a 20-6 winner over Perryville -- next Friday night.

St. Vincent stops at sweet 16

HERCULANEUM -- St. Vincent's regular-season winning streak was stopped at 16 games Friday night when Class 3A Herculaneum knocked off St. Vincent, the top ranked 1A team in the state 20-14.

The last team to beat the Indians in the regular season was, you guessed it, Herculaneum on Sept. 26, 1997.

"We had some opportunities, but it didn't pan out," said St. Vincent coach Paul Sauer. "Herculaneum is a good, solid football team. We hurt ourselves in some situations and we could never quite recover."

St. Vincent's defense played well once again, giving up just two touchdowns -- the third was scored on a 93-yard kickoff return. St. Vincent shut out Herculaneum in the second half.

So far this year, St. Vincent's first-team defense has given up just four touchdowns in four games.

"Our defense played well," Sauer said. "At times we could just shut them down."

Likewise, Herculaneum shut down St. Vincent's offense.

Both of St. Vincent's touchdowns came on special teams. The first came on a blocked punt which was returned for a touchdown by Josh Meyer. His touchdown made the score 12-7 with 1:56 left in the first half. Herculaneum immediately returned the kickoff for a touchdown and, after a missed 43-yard field goal by St. Vincent, the Indians found themselves down 20-7 at halftime.

With five minutes left in the third quarter, Cory Strattman returned a punt 68 yards for a touchdown for St. Vincent's other score.

St. Vincent managed just 146 yards total offense -- 117 passing and 29 rushing -- while Herculaneum churned out about 300.

St. Vincent will play at Crystal City next Friday night.

Eagles singing `Life in the Fast Lane'

NEW MADRID -- The New Madrid County Central Eagles continued their fast start and dominance in Southeast Missouri Friday night with an easy 39-0 win over Charleston.

New Madrid (4-0) has now outscored its opponents -- which includes two large schools -- 169-41.

Charleston, meanwhile, dropped to 1-3 and has given up at least 36 points in its three losses.

Mules too stubborn to be defeated

Poplar Bluff 33, Sikeston 16

POPLAR BLUFF -- The Poplar Bluff Mules, the preseason team to beat in the SEMO North Conference, rolled over Sikeston 33-16 Friday night.

Poplar Bluff improved to 4-0, while Sikeston -- which suffered a 35-0 loss to Jackson in its season and conference opener -- slipped to 2-2.

Sikeston has yet to hold a team to less than 26 points and has yielded about 31 points per game.