By Staff Writer, ShowMe Times Sports Contributor

The seventh and eight grade boys basketball teams delivered an action packed evening on Thursday night against the Bloomfield Wildcats. Both the Bearcats and Wildcats have been dominating against their opponents throughout the 2011 season. Both teams have won by large margins over 20 and 30 points each outing.

 However,  these two games were sure to be a collision course of two great Stoddard County middle school teams. Both games would prove to be highly competitive for both teams.

The seventh grade had a slow start as both teams were only able to find a total of 8 points. Alex Gibbs had the hot hand for the Wildcats and got his team out in front at the end of the quarter by a score of 5 to 3.

But Jason Jarrell continued his powerful scoring in the second quarter for the ‘Cats tossing in 10 points of his own. The Bearcats outscored Bloomfield by four in second quarter giving them a lead at halftime of 17 to 15.

But the battle was not finished as the Wildcats Hector and Gibbs continued their strong offensive attack and evened the score by the end of the 3rd quarter at 28 point each. But Jason Jarrell pumped in 6 fourth quarter points along with Bryce Simmons and Zach Potts each with two, leaving the Wildcats one point shy at the end of the game.  Potts' shot was a last second buzzer beater to win the game for the Bearcats. Dexter won the contest by a score of 38 to 37.

In the eight grade contest, the Bearcat’s Jacob Pedigo was absolutely on fire for the entire contest. He helped the Bearcats jump out to a 9 to 5 lead in the first quarter by contributing 8 points. But the second quarter flipped the coin with Bloomfield scoring 9 points to the Bearcats 5 points. Noah Langley and Chandler Young helped keep the Bearcats in the game with a bucket each in that quarter. That left the game tied with a 14 to 14 score at the halftime.

But Jacob Pedigo turned it on again in the 2nd half scoring an additional 14 points of his game high of 21points overall. The game was like a great boxing match with one basket by one team answered with a basket by the other. However,  the Wildcats managed to squeak an extra point out of each second half quarter and with only seconds remaining in the game, the Wildcats' Battles sank a shot to secure the victory. .