At this point in the season, teams that are in the middle of the pack of their district standings are trying to do everything it takes to secure home-field advantage for the first round of the playoffs. Sikeston and New Madrid County Central both found themselves in such a position heading into Friday night’s matchup at Sikeston Public Schools Stadium. Sikeston was able to snap a two-game skid with a 20-8 victory over NMCC on a cold, rainy night to keep themselves in contention of a home game in two weeks. It was a hard-fought game, but the Bulldogs were able to overcome numerous injuries, including one to quarterback Gage Rolwing for most of the game, and also a season-high in penalties. “It was a big win in regards to how we responded to things tonight,” Sikeston coach Kent Gibbs said. “We got down to the goal line again and didn’t score. We lose our starting quarterback. We had penalties, but we did just enough and did what we needed to do on offense to win the game. It was a big game for our own psyche, if you will. The idea that you just keep plugging and keep plugging and good things will happen, and that’s what happened tonight.” Sikeston (4-4) broke an 8-8 tie in the fourth quarter on backup quarterback Sean Blanchfield’s 5-yard run and dive to the pylon to give his team a 14-8 lead with 3:01 left in the game. The play was set up by a 30-yard interception return by Seth Copeland, giving the Bulldogs excellent field position at the NMCC 23. Running back Tra Ranson then had his best run of the night, a 21-yarder to the 3-yard line. Three plays later, Blanchfield found the end zone. Sikeston sealed the game on the ensuing possession when Keon Graham intercepted his second pass of the night and returned it 84 yards for the touchdown with 54 seconds left to lead 20-8. “Coach always says, ‘the ball’s in the air, take advantage.’ I had to take it to the house and try to secure this game for the team. Once I caught it, I just saw paydirt,” Graham said. The Bulldogs can largely attribute this victory to winning the turnover battle as they intercepted three passes and recovered a fumble. “We’ve been talking all year long how we’re the ones giving away turnovers and finally our defense tonight was able to get some,” Gibbs said. “Most of the time if you’re in the plus column on turnovers you’re going to win.” Sikeston's Kenyan Moore sacks New Madrid County Central's Christen Phillips in a high school football game Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, at Sikeston Public Schools Stadium. (David Jenkins/Standard Democrat) NMCC (4-4) came into the game averaging 39 points per game, but Sikeston’s defense, which has been solid for most of the year, stifled the Eagles throughout the night, limiting them to 186 yards of total offense. The Eagles only managed 72 yards rushing on 35 attempts. “Coach Gibbs always puts a good product on the field and you can always guarantee that he’s going to be challenging and this is going to be a good team when you play them,” NMCC coach Tyler Fullhart said. “The weather played a factor and I think we could have handled it a little bit better. But hat’s off to Sikeston.” NMCC junior quarterback Christen Phillips completed 9 of 21 passes for 114 yards, but was pressured into three interceptions and was sacked five times. “We played well up front,” Gibbs said. “We got some penetration and the kid couldn’t just sit back and throw it all over the place. And when we had a chance to make tackles, for the most part tonight, we made tackles. And it wasn’t just one guy, it was four or five white helmets there.” After a scoreless first half, Phillips scored the game’s first points on a 9-yard keeper and then scored the two-point conversion to lead 8-0 on the opening possession of the third quarter. With the way the game had gone, it seemed plausible that one touchdown could be enough to win the game. But Sikeston answered on the ensuing kick, as Ranson shook off a couple tackles, made a cut and followed his blockers the rest of the way for an 89-yard kick return. “We were down and I was like, ‘we need to score.’ And I just wanted to make something out of nothing and just go,” Ranson said. “When I got it I seen like 30 guys on the outside, so I was like, ‘if I cut it up the middle and keep going I can cut it back to the outside once I get in the open field.’ And that’s what happened.” Blanchfield then ran in the two-point conversion to tie the score at 8-8. “We played really, really well on defense and I’m really proud of our defense with the way we played. I wish we could’ve prevented the return right after we scored. That kills momentum,” Fullhart said. Ranson, who played at NMCC last season before transferring to Sikeston in March, had some extra motivation in this game as he faced off against his old teammates. The senior finished with 103 yards rushing, on 23 carries to go with his game-turning kick return. “Gage went down and I just had to do what I had to do,” Ranson said. “If it takes me running the ball 30 or 40 times up the middle, then that’s what we have to do. I knew this game was going to be real intense. I got family, two cousins on the team, and they both played. We were all out there just having a good time.” Rolwing went down with a shoulder injury on the first play of the second quarter after a 17-yard run. He did not return and the status of the injury is unknown as of press time. Other than Ranson’s Wildcat plays out of the quarterback position, the rest of the signal-caller duties rested with Blanchfield, who had never taken a snap behind center until this season. On top of that, Sikeston was flagged 10 times for 115 yards — both season-highs. Included in the total were six penalties of the 15-yard variety, most coming on unsportsmanlike conduct calls. “We had way too many penalties tonight,” Gibbs said. “You can’t mouth opponents and talk trash to them and get in their face and do things and we did that tonight, and that’s not right. I apologize for that happening. That’s not what we’re made of and that’s not what our team’s about. That can’t take place. But we did overcome ourselves a little bit. We did overcome an injury to our quarterback. The big thing for me is we responded well to mistakes. We haven’t been doing that real well. We kept losing kids to injury, even for a play or two or a series, and we were down to some kids who haven’t played much, but we still just played hard.” Sikeston has now defeated NMCC 10 straight times and they have won 22 of the 31 all-time meetings between the two schools. The Bulldogs came into the game seeded fifth in Class 4, District 1. They will have to get into the top four to have a home game in two weeks. The Bulldogs will travel to play Kennett next Friday. For NMCC, it is a disappointing loss for a team that has now lost four straight heading into the final game of the regular season schedule. The Eagles, seeded fifth in Class 2, District 1 coming into the game, will face host Caruthersville next Friday.