The Labor Day Holiday was not observed at Charles "Seed" Bland Stadium this past Monday evening as the Junior Varsity Bearcat met the Malden Greenwaves. With the change in the weather, it was a great night to watch the football action.

D J Dowdy is a young incredible quarterback that does nice job handling the offense for the Bearcats. He is surrounded by young talent from the junior, sophomore and freshman classes at DHS. These young men don't often see much action during the Friday night contests and this is a formidable opportunity for them to see action and perfect their skills.

The first quarter found the Bearcats dominating the play on the field and the clock. The first drive took up about 5 minutes but ended with a 4th down and 1 yard attempt that failed. After a turnover by Malden, the Bearcat offense came back on the field with a new pace to their offense.

At around the 3:06 mark of the offensive machine got rolling with a pass completion from D J Dowdy to Stevie Payne. Brad Wick picked up his running game with powerful stiff arms used against the Greenwave defense. Jonathon Foels, a sophomore running back that returned to the Bearcat squad this year, began to show his talent as a running back as he picked up 7 to 12 yards per carry.

With a quick switch of possession with back to back fumbles by each team, the scoring for the Bearcats got started. Jonathon Foels took a hand off from QB D J Dowdy and raced 20 yards for the Bearcat's first touchdown of the night. The two point conversion was good as Dowdy rolled out and delivered the pass to Holden Bruce. With 0:25 seconds left in the 1st quarter, the score was Bearcats 8 and the Greenwaves 0.

Second quarter action found the Bearcat defense holding the Greenwaves on a 4th down and 2 yard attempt at the 8:28 of the 2nd quarter. This was a critical turnover by downs as Noah Cronk came up with a big tackle.

Loss on the first play from the Greenway 46 … with a lateral pass had a loss of 3 yards

Brad Wick used his powerful running style with an 18 yard run from scrimmage. That was followed by a 26 yard completion by DJ Dowdy to Stevie Ray Payne to setup Dexter for a 1st down from the 7 yard line. Jonathon Foels followed with a quick run off right tackle for a Bearcat touchdown. Dowdy found open daylight around the left end to make the 2 point conversation good.

The Greenwaves found the Bearcats defense tough. Dillon Bazarian came up on a big 3rd down tackle in the next defensive series. However, Malden was desperately trying to get things going and was able to convert on their 4th down attempt. Malden was able to put together a long run to the outside but eventually the Bearcats were able to sniff out the reverse by the Greenwaves and stop them on a 4th down attempt.

With 3:08 remaining in the half, the Bearcat offense picked up their game immediately with an 18-yard pass completion to Jordan Miller from Dowdy. Jonathon ls followed with a long 15-yard run from scrimmage taking the football down to the15 yard line. The offense continued to take their steps 15-yards at a time and the third play had D J Dowdy connecting up again with Jordan Miller for another 15-yard. Miller was stopped short of a touchdown at the 1-yard line. Brad Wick had no problem powering through the Malden defense for another Bearcat Touchdown. The 2-point conversion attempt failed leaving the score at 22 to 0 in favor of the Bearcats.

A booming kickoff out of the end zone by Brad Wick gave Malden the ball on 20-yard line with 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the half. The defense provided good containment on Malden's running back, Cortez Dobbins. The Bearcats created another turnover as Logan Quertermous put a huge rush on the Greenwaves quarterback causing a misfire the pass that ended as an interception by Bearcat defensive back Jordan Miller. Miller returned the ball all the way down to the Greenwave's 23-yard line. However, the 'Cats were unable to take advantage of the turnover and went in at halftime with the score of Dexter 22 and Malden 0.

Brad Wick started the second half with a little excitement again as he kicked a bullet at the front line of the receiving team. The football was mishandled by Malden and the fumble was recovered by the Bearcats to start the 2nd half.

Very quickly, the "Jonathon Foels' Show" started as Foels was picking up first downs and averaging about 8 to 12 yards per carry. With 4:24 remaining in the 3rd quarter, Brad Wick ran the ball in from the 4 yard line for another Bearcat touchdown. The two point conversion failed.

Defense became the name of the game, as Dakota Southerland began to stack up tackles. Southerland is a big young freshman that show a lot of promise on the field. Defensive end Stevie Payne also dominated, delivering a rush into the backfield that caused another turnover on downs by the Greenwaves with two minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter.

With a solid lead, the Bearcat coaching staff began to rotate in some of the freshman talent into the lineup. They mounted a solid drive as Tim Spence made several great runs. Also contributing to the running game was running back Dillon Bazarrian and quarterback Jason Madison. With a long sustaining drive, the young Bearcats deliver eight more points as Tim Spence took the ball into the end zone from 6 yard out. The two point conversion was good by #35 Dillon Bazarrian.

The Greenwaves mounted up a drive late in the 4th quarter. A touchdown saving tackle by Bearcat Matthew Fulkerson on Edwin Hale prevent what seemed to be a sure play for Malden. Unfortunately, Malden was able to toss a pass into the flats that was turned into a 30-yard touchdown with only 2:30 left in the game.

It was an excellent showing by the Junior Varsity Bearcats. This has traditionally been a group that knows how to win and they are only improving with time.

"Our guys displayed great discipline tonight and played a great game", commented Coach Greg Lummakka. "As they continue to work and take advantage of our weight program, we can expect good things in the future from these guys."

It was a fun night and nothing better than ending it with a 36 to 8 victory for the Bearcats.

Special thanks for Travis Miller for supplying the pictures to the ShowMe Times of the JV Football Action!!