TIGERS, BULLDOGS UP FOR ONE LAST FIGHT; RIVALS MEETING TONIGHT

Looking at the Cape Central Tigers and Sikeston Bulldogs matchup tonight at Houck Field, it might seem like 1989.

Cape Central (6-3) will be going for its most wins since an 8-3 playoff season in 1989. Sikeston (3-5) will be trying to avoid its worst season since a 3-7 finish the same year.

Both teams will also be trying to snap losing streaks as they complete their 1997 schedules. The Tigers, in the throws of a nine-game losing streak in the SEMO North Conference, will be trying to beat the Bulldogs for the first time since 1993.

Sikeston, which hasn't won since a 40-8 win over Dexter in week 5, hopes to end its three-game slide. Last year Sikeston beat Central 28-14 in the ninth week of the football season.

Central is also coming off two consecutive emotional losses after entering the final three week's with a 6-1 mark. A week 7 loss to Jackson hurt the Tigers chances for the conference and district crowns, but last week's one-point loss at Poplar Bluff was even harder to swallow.

"Obviously we hate to lose to Jackson more than anybody, but the manner in which we lost to Bluff made it a little bit tougher because we put ourself in a position to win late and didn't do it," said Central coach Jerry Dement. "Our players were really stung by the loss to Bluff."

Sikeston hasn't found the last two games to be much fun either. The Bulldogs let a second half lead slip away against Poplar Bluff and then got shut out at home last week against Jackson.

"This game is important for a couple reasons," said Sikeston coach Charlie Vickery. "No. 1 our seniors want to go out on a winning note and No. 2 it can give us a jump-start for next season.

"Both teams are 0-2 in the conference, but we have to put it aside and make the most of it."

With no team goals to shoot for, individual honors are something the Bulldogs are concentrating on. Senior running back Mark Blissett, with 2,889 yards in his career, is well within reach of Tiger Boyd's school rushing mark. Boyd graduated from Sikeston in 1992.

"Mark needs about 33 yards to pass Tiger," said Vickery. "If he wouldn't have got hurt early in the season, he'd have certainly had (the record) by now."

Blissett missed nearly three games early in the year due to a knee injury. He's returned to lead the Bulldogs in rushing with 802 yards and 10 touchdowns.

"Sikeston has tremendous skill people," said Dement. "They have an excellent running back down there in Mark Blissett. We have to stop him. If we don't, we're in for a long night."

Dement said individual goals won't be much of a factor for the Tigers.

"We want to win seven games. That's all we have to shoot for now," Dement said. "We have a 1,000 yard passer (Frank McGinty), a 1,000 yard rusher (Justin Blackmon), and a tackler with over 100 tackles (Tatum Kitchen). So all the individual things have already come."

McGinty's really come on the last few week's to become the second-leading passer in the area with 1,010 yards. Blackmon has been steady all season with 1,137 yards and Kitchen has flown all over the field to record 115 tackles.

"We didn't win the conference or district and those were goals we set at the beginning of season," said Dement. "Now we have to try to improve on last year's six-win season."

With the conference losing streak reaching over three years, there may not be a player on the Tigers' sideline tonight that has been on the winning end of a conference game. Dement is hoping his seniors get that first conference win tonight.

"Obviously this late in the year your most important games our your district and conference games and we haven't done a good job of winning those," said Dement. "We'd sure like to break that string here.

"We haven't got it done the last three games of the year. I'm sure our seniors would love to end their careers on a winning note."