By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

The DMS Football team put on an impressive show Thursday night at Charles Bland Stadium.


The eighth grade squad, coached by Leonard Morse, was able to put up a 20-6 victory over the Charleston Bluejays.


Ethan Stevens - the younger brother of DHS Quarterback Cody Stevens - rushed for a touchdown and connected with Austin Chesser and Jacob Crumley for two TD passes.

The young ‘Cats will be on the road for the rest of the season, with games at Kennett, Poplar Bluff, and Jackson.

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Thanks to Bearcat Mom and SMT Reader Robin Rickman for the photo of the squad seventh grade squad in action earlier this season!

From the SBU Sports Information Department

Bolivar, Mo. - The SBU Bearcats enter into their 3rd game of the 2011 season after coming off a game where the Bearcats produced over 400 yards of total offense. The Bearcats look to continue their winning streak to three seasons after a record of (7-4) in the 2010 season. The Bearcats look to get on the right track with a victory over an MIAA opponent, one they will have to face next year when they rejoin the MIAA Conference.

Last week, the SBU offense was impressive, as they piled up over 400 offensive yards in the contest. The Bearcats were lead in passing by Dan Connors who was 14-23 for 166 yards and two touchdowns. The Bearcats were lead in receiving by Charles Johnson who had seven receptions for 107 yards and three touchdowns.

The Bearcats are poised to have their third consecutive winning season as they go into the next game this weekend against the Fort Hays Tigers. Coach Allen’s theme continues to be “Leave no Doubt”. He wants all of his athletes to have the mind set of “Every day you come to work, every day you’ve got to get better, every day you have to compete.”

The Coaches and the All-Time Series

Keith Allen has already engineered a significant turnaround at SBU, moving the ‘Cats from 0-11 his first year as interim coach, to 5-6 in 2008, to the winning record of 6-5 in 2009, and followed up with a 7-4 record in 2010. Allen served as defensive and recruiting coordinator before being named SBU head coach in 2007. His past coaching experience has included stops at San Jose State, Quincy, TCU and Oklahoma.

Chris Brown enters his first season as head coach of Fort Hays State in 2011. Brown came to Fort Hays State from Washburn University, where he served as the defensive coordinator and defensive secondary coach from 2002-2010 and assistant head coach in 2010.

Brown helped Washburn compile a 62-41 record in his nine-year span with the program, which included two NCAA playoff appearances and two bowl wins.

The all-time series between Fort Hays and Southwest Baptist is tied at 1-1. Fort Hays won the last match-up between these two teams in 2007 at Hays, 36-30.

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Southwest Baptist University is a four-year evangelical Christian university that was established in 1878. The main campus is located about 30 minutes north of Springfield, Missouri, in Bolivar, a town of approximately 10,000 people.

DHS alum Glen Johnson is a defensive lineman for the Bearcats.

For more information on SBU Bearcat Athletics, visit sbubearcats.com.

Despite the Bearcats' tough loss in week three to the Sikeston Bulldogs, there were some stellar performances on the field. The ShowMe TImes is proud to present the Players of the Week!

DEFENSE - #10, Ryan Joyner
Joyner flew across the field during the entire contest, racking up 5 solo tackles (1 for a 3 yard loss) and swarmed to the football for several gang tackles.



OFFENSE - The "Big Nasty's" - the Offensive Line: #78, Zach Lacy; #55, Brandon Moore; #53, Jacob Stephens; #52, Dylan Aaron; #63, Theo Gaul.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

BERNIE -- The Lady ‘Cats have struggled in their last few games since the SEMO Spike Tournament, but Thursday night the ‘Cats showed great resolve and scratched out a three-set win against the Bernie Lady Mules.

In JV action, the ‘Cats won in straight sets - 25-0, 25-4 - to remain perfect on the season.


The Varsity squad showed a great defensive effort in their match, pulling out 17 blocks and 66 digs in the contest. The Mules were able to pull off an overtime win in the first set, 26-28, but the ‘Cats were able to pull out victories in the next two sets - 25-23, 25-21 - to take the match.

“It was a fun, intense game for both Dexter and Bernie.  I think the fans got what they paid for!  I feel the girls played as a true team tonight, and it showed,” head coach Lauren Hutchcraft said. “They got down in the second set, and they could have lost it.  However, they dug deep and turned it around to come out with the win in that set to take us to three!  I couldn't be more proud of them.”

Brittany Harris was a dominant defensive force in the match, accounting for 12 blocks.

The Lady ‘Cats will be in action again on Monday, when they host Woodland.

“I'm expecting a good game between both squads.  They had a good group of girls that played on their JV squad last year,” Hutchcraft noted.  “I'm expecting those girls have progressed in the off-season.  Again, I'm expecting the unexpected and not counting anyone out!  Like I've told my girls, 'On any given night, anything can happen,' so be prepared.”

JV action is set to begin at 6:00 p.m., with the Varsity game immediately following.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

The Bearcats will hit the road tonight to face the Scott City Rams. Both squads are 2-1 on the season, with the ‘Cats coming off a loss against Sikeston and the Rams coming off a blowout victory against East Prairie.

Head coach Aaron Pixley felt his team had a great week of practice, and noted the separation his team had from last week’s tough loss with Sikeston.

“Practice has gone well. Before the huge storm yesterday, we got everything we needed to get in done,” Pixley said after Thursday’s walkthrough. “I think our kids have not forgotten the Sikeston game, but everyone is moved on - we have a big game tomorrow night against Scott City.”

“[Scott City is] big up front, they have real nice size. They’ve got two running backs that run the ball hard, their quarterback is a tall kid that throws the ball well. They have two tall receivers,” Pixley said of tonight’s opponent. “They do multiple things and they do them well - run a really solid offense over there. Defensively, they play hard up front and run to the ball well. We’re going to have to stay with our blocks and run to the ball on defense to have success.”

The ‘Cats will face another unorthodox offense this week - the Rams tend to run a lot of unbalanced sets “They do some unbalanced stuff - they use their receivers and running backs and run wings,” he said. “They’ll go to a one-back set and try to get multiple people on one side of the defense and then come back to the weak side. They do a lot of things on offense.”


The ‘Cats struggled defensively last week, giving up over 500 yards to the Bulldogs’ offense. Pixley noted after last week’s contest that the team struggled with tackling, but he feels the team has made the necessary adjustments to have success against Scott City.

“I think more than anything it’s over-pursuit, and when you dot hat, you get your body in a bad position to tackle. Who knows - its a hard game to break down if we’re good tacklers or not because we over-pursued so much and they cut back,” Pixley said. “We have to tackle better.”


“We’ve given up a lot of yards the last two games, and we have to get back to basics and make sure we wrap up and get people to the ground with good technique - also get as many people swarming to the football as we can. We have to line up right - if we line up right and wrap up, we’ll have a good shot.”


Kickoff for tonight’s contest against Scott City is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

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Editor’s Note - Chase Young may be sidelined tonight due to a nagging knee injury he’s dealt with since early this summer. I spoke with Chase’s father, Marty, during practice yesterday, and he said Chase would be having tests done on his knee Monday, and is only sitting out tonight as a precautionary measure.

I would expect to see a lot more of Cody Neldon on both sides of the ball tonight in relief of Young.


Also, I-55 will be reduced from one lane from Benton to Scott City tonight - you may want to hit Highway 61 in Sikeston and go that route while you’re heading to the game tonight.


As always, if you can’t make it to the game, I’ll be Tweeting the scores and big plays of the contest from the sidelines - just keep checking back with our Facebook or Twitter page for updates!