New Madrid, Missouri – The Dexter Bearcats have truly showed their fans what they are made of and their confidence is at an all time high.  They set their sights on winning this year and win they did!  They are SEMO Conference Central Champions tied with Caruthersville and New Madrid, but Conference Champions nonetheless.  The Bearcat Nation is extremely proud of our boys of fall!  Congratulations Bearcats!

“We put in a lot more time during the summer,” commented Noah Kronk, Dexter senior football teammate.  “We worked a lot harder than normal.  We were more focused and more intent on learning the new plays, perfecting the plays that we had already learned from last year and just getting our offense to perfection as well.”

All that hard work paid off for Dexter.  They defeated New Madrid County Central 28-19 and finished 3-1 in conference play. 

“It means a lot to the guys that are seniors,” stated Dexter’s head football coach Justin Peden.  “It’s big for them because they haven’t had much success the past few years since they’ve been varsity guys.  This is big for them and also for the young guys that now understand if you do believe in the system, each other and the coaches we CAN BE SUCCESSFUL!”

Peyton Pollock did what he does best and passed a 25-yard touchdown in the first three minutes of the game to Noah Kronk to put the Bearcats on top 7-0.

NMCC answered with a touchdown of their own rather quickly when Asten Newsom threw a long Hail Mary pass for 74-yards to Tyler Sprouse to tie it up 7-7.

Dexter’s defense was in complete command of NMCC’s offense in the first half.  The Eagles fumbled away a kickoff return, threw two interceptions, had a blocked punt, and turned the ball over on downs.  The Bearcats capitalized on those mistakes.  Ethan Stevens was able to return one of the interceptions for 78 yards for a Bearcat touchdown giving Dexter a 14-7 lead with just 3:19 left in the first quarter.

“We just kept swarming to the ball and were in the right place at the right time,” commented Dylan Bazarian, Bearcat senior.  “We have worked so hard and right now I feel pretty beat up, but it’s totally worth it!” 

Peyton Pollock answered with another touchdown in the second quarter passing just 15 yards to Ethan Stevens to increase a Bearcat lead 21-7.  NMCC never scored in the second quarter.

The Eagles were fired up coming out of the locker room at half-time.  It only took 5 tries and 30 yards to end with a six-yard touchdown by Jarvacus Word; however the two-point conversion was stopped by the Bearcats.  Dexter 21 – NMCC 13.

“We knew they were going to be fired up that second half and it was going to be a battle,” stated Kronk. “Our defense held strong.  We had a few hiccups when they scored that long passing touchdown, but all-in-all we held it together and got the victory.”

With just a little over five minutes remaining in the game, Peyton Pollock threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Stevens to ensure a win for the Bearcats.  Dexter 28-NMCC 13.

Matt Sims had a game-high 16 tackles for the Bearcats.  Drake Mitchell tallied 13 tackles. Noah Kronk had 8 tackles.

“Defensively we played amazing,” commented Peden.  “They had two big plays.  They had the reverse pass, which was just a great call and then that long pass at the end.  Other than that we hemmed them up pretty good.”

The final score of the game came with the Eagles tallying their last touchdown with another Hail Mary Pass of 77 yards to Newsom to finish the game 28-19.

SEMO Central Conference play ended with a 3-way tie between Dexter, Caruthersville, and NMCC.  There is no tiebreaker for the conference title so congratulations BEARCAT NATION!  You did it!!

Dexter (4-3) will host Park Hill Central on Friday evening.  It’s Senior Night for the Bearcats.  The presentation is slated to begin at 6:20 mid-field on the track.

FINAL SCORE: Dexter 28 NMCC 19

Dexter     14   7   0   7  -  28

NMCC       7   0   6   6  -  19

First Quarter

DX - Noah Kronk 25 pass from Peyton Pollock (Jason Jarrell kick), 9:33 (7-0 DX)

NM - Tyler Sprouse 74 pass from Asten Newsom (Craig Beasley kick), 9:12 (7-7)

DX - Ethan Stevens 78 return on interception (Jarrell kick), 3:19 (14-7 DX)

Second Quarter

DX - Stevens 15 pass from Pollock (Jarrell kick), 10:23 (21-7 DX)

Third Quarter

NM - Javarcus Word 6 run (conversion failed), 9:43 (21-13 DX)

Fourth Quarter

DX - Stevens 17 pass from Pollock (Jarrell kick), 5:09 (28-13 DX)

NM - Newsom 77 pass from Jo Dryden (conversion failed), 1:34 (28-19 DX)

TEAM STATISTICS

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - (Dexter) Dylan Bazarian 13-45, Peyton Pollock 10-(-4), Tim Spence 5-(-1), Carson Dean 3-30, Ethan Stevens 1-(-4). (NMCC) Mikeal Walker 12-47, Malik Stevenson 9-36, Javarcus Word 7-14, TJ Clark 7-4, JC Dryden 5-(-2), Harvie Brown 2-1.

Passing - (Dexter) Peyton Pollock 12-24-1 = 130. (NMCC) Jo Dryden 6-14-3 = 111, Asten Newsom 1-2-0 = 74, Craig Beasley 0-1-0 = 0.

Receiving - (Dexter) Ethan Stevens 6-53, Noah Kronk 2-36, Gavin White 2-33, Austin Aldridge 1-16, Austin Chesser 1-(-2), Carson Dean 1-16. (NMCC) Asten Newsom 3-85, Tyler Sprouse 2-90, Drew Palmer 1-8, Mikeal Walker 1-2

Punting - (Dexter) Ethan Stevens 2-46. (NMCC) Charlie Taylor 3-102, Craig Beasley 1-3, Team 1-0.