Portageville, Missouri – Dexter has a new league of young men working to extend their football skills.  The Dexter Bearcat 6^th Grade traveling team was formed for the first time this year.  The team has planned to follow up the DPR season by combining several of the Dexter area 6^th grade youth to compete against other area teams.

The young Bearcat team traveled to Portageville this weekend to participate in a round robin tournament against two teams from Portageville (5^th & 6^th grade) and a New Madrid 6^th grade team.  The event format was very similar to that of a pre-season jamboree held at the high school level where teams play a controlled execution of plays while receiving instruction from coaches throughout the contest.

The Bearcat 6^th graders took on the Portageville 5^th Grade team in opening action.  With a lot of rotation among the first and second teams, the ‘Cats were obviously able to dominate this game. 

The second contest pitted both 6^th grade teams from Dexter and Portageville.  The Bearcat defense was dominant, while the offense quickly moved the football down the field. 

After the warm-up of the two half field jamboree formats, the teams were set to play a full field contest for a set 30 minutes.  Two coaches continued to remain on the field for instructional purposes and the clock ran continuously until the final 2 minutes of the contest.  At that point, the clock started and stopped as normal to high school rules. 

The Bearcats were set to play the big, strong New Madrid 6^th grade team in their opening game.  New Madrid had one player whose dad was rumored to have played professionally in Canada and was a complete horse at his defensive end and offensive guard positions. 

New Madrid came out initially with a strong offensive grind that eventually ended with a long run to the endzone.  PAT’s (point after touchdown) are handled differently in this league as a normal offensive play ran or thrown into the endzone results in 1-point, where if a kicker under no pressure is able to kick the ball through the uprights will receive 2-points.  New Madrid converted their run into the endzone making the score 7 to 0.

The Bearcats were unproductive in their first series and were held deep in their territory and forced to punt in both their first two offensive series.  The ‘Cats were simply unable to clear enough of a hole to allow the backs to gain the needed yards for a first down. 

New Madrid held excellent field position throughout the contest and quickly began to push the ball down to the five yard line.  That is when the Bearcat defense bowed it’s back and displayed their best defensive performance of the day.  Luke Boyer matched up against the two most athletic linemen for New Madrid clogging up the middle.  His efforts allowed the other members of the defensive unit to make the plays to deny New Madrid entry into the endzone.  A procedure penalty and a sack by defensive end Braxton Foster and company turned the ball over on downs back to the Bearcats. 

Continuing to find the going tough, the Dexter offense found a seam when Seth Rogers scooted to the outside and was able to display his blazing speed up the sidelines for a 70+ yard touchdown run.  The Bearcats possess a secret weapon in Travis Propst.  Propst came into the game to kick the PAT from normal high school distance.  The kick was long, high and was good, making the score 8 to 7 in favor of the Bearcats. 

As the game was winding down to a close, New Madrid had one final chance to get on the scoreboard.  With their first three downs yielding very little yardage against the hardnosed defense of Dexter, New Madrid backed up for one final toss of the football.  The pass was right on target from the quarterback to his receiver in the deep middle third of the field and he ran 80+ yards for the winning score.  The PAT was no good and the game ended with a score of 13 to 8.

Following the hard fought loss, the 6^th graders were called back to the field after a short intermission to play the Portageville 6^th grade.  The Bearcats were able to perform well against the Portageville team winning by a score of 8 to 0. 

Defensively, the Bearcats had an outstanding performance for the first outing of this combined 6^th grade team.  Colby Powers, Colton Gibson and Hunter Lawrence played particularly well for the team from their interior line and linebacker positions. 

In addition to Rogers, the offensive play by Dexter had several bright spots.  Garrison Collier was explosive from his offensive center position, as well as Brock Simmons on the offensive line. 

From a specialty position, the Bearcats positioned two athletes that alternated between receiver and the quarterback positions.  Joe Rice was the starting QB for the ‘Cats while Nate Gargas alternated in to offer his dashing running style.  Colton Gibson and Seth Rogers handled the running back positions. 

Overall, the hope for this group is to begin to merge a very good group of Dexter athletes to begin their careers in the DHS Bearcat football program.  Instrumental in the formation of this group is Loyd Rice and the parents of each of these young athletes.  The Dexter Park and Rec has graciously allowed the group to continue to use the practice facilities and football equipment the additional time of this short season.

The team established a  “no dad” coaching policy.  Darren Hillis, Brett Dorton, Jason Comfort, Drew Pixley, Alex Becker and Alan Hedrick coach the team this year.

The experience was a great one for the young men as the Portageville schools, coaches, PA announcers, and student athletes were involved with supporting the games today.  Most of all, the smiles on the faces and the accomplishments of the afternoon was satisfying to parents, coaches, and players.