Written by
Dee Loflin, SMT Manager/Editor
Ste. Genevieve, Missouri – The excessive hot temperatures could not keep the Dexter Bearcats from playing one of their best games in years. Though it went down as a loss in the record book, Dexter showed Ste. Genevieve how competitive they have become. By all accounts this was an extremely close game.
“Ste. Gen was prepared,” commented Dexter coach Justin Peden. “Coach Stolzer is a great coach and he had his guys ready. They are young, but hungry and ready to go. Our guys played hard, but we made some mistakes that cost us. There are always going to be some kinks you need to workout after the first game and we will work them out. We are going to get back at it, correct the mistakes and be a better football team.”
Ste. Gen scored the first two touchdowns and jumped ahead 13-0 when Austin Brewer charged in at the one-yard line to score with just three minutes left in the first quarter. Logan Rhinehart ran for a 52-yard touchdown early in the second quarter.
Pollock was able to cut their lead to 6 when he quickly ran 33 yards for a touchdown with a little over 8 minutes left in the first half. Score at half-time 13-7.
The Bearcats seemed to be losing some ground after coming out of the locker room at half-time with Ste. Gen earning another touchdown off Wyatt Lalumandier giving the Dragons a hefty lead 19 – 7 with 8:41 left in the third quarter.
It came down to who wanted it more as the Bearcats renewed their efforts and capitalized on a four-yard pass from Pollock to Stevens with exactly 6 minutes left in the third quarter to close the gap 19 – 14.
Just 30 seconds later, Dexter still down by 5 points in the second half scored another touchdown when Pollock threw a 30-yard pass to Ethan Stevens to move ahead 21-19. This was their only lead of the game.
“We finally got clicking offensively,” Peden said. “We did the stuff we can do. When that happens you see what we can produce, offensively.”
Dragons fought back and scored the game-winning touchdown with just under two minutes left on the clock.
The Bearcats battled down to the very last second of the game. They took over the ball with only 24 seconds left on the clock and rallied hard against the Dragons. Dexter’s quarterback, Peyton Pollock, hustled towards the right side of the field throwing long to Jason Jarrell who caught the ball and ran in for a touchdown.
Bearcat fans and fellow teammates jumped in the air excited to win their first game of the season. But it was short lived and seconds later the ball was returned to the line of scrimmage, the touchdown wiped clean. Not knowing how close he was to the line of scrimmage, Pollock merely overstepped a few feet before throwing what seemed to be the perfect pass.
“Peyton made a good throw and it was a good catch,” stated Peden. “He just stepped over the line a little bit. Sometimes that’s how the ball bounces, but it should have never came to that play.”
Time for one more play and Pollock knew he had to make this one count. A pass to Ethan Stevens some 25 yards up field, but was brought down by several Dragons. The clock simply ran out on the Bearcats!
Pollock tallied a team-high 92 yards rushing for Dexter. He completed 16 of 27 passes for a total of 140 yards, throwing one interception.
Ethan Stevens recorded 74 yards in 7 catches scoring two touchdowns. Austin Chesser tallied five catches for 45 yards.
“Offensively, I thought we did well. We just need to get the rust and kinks out. We did a lot of things positive on the offensive side of the ball, but then again stalled drives killed us,” continued Peden. “We have got to turn big plays into points and I thought that is something we didn’t do very well tonight.”
Dexter only fumbled the ball one time during the game while Ste. Genevieve fumbled the ball five times with the Bearcats gaining possession each time. Cameron Craft, Brandon Quertermous, Tim Spence, Ethan Stevens, and Noah Kronk each recovered a fumble for the Dexter Bearcats. Dylan Bazarian earned the most tackles with a total of 10 and Noah Kronk added 9 tackles.
“Defensively, I thought even though we didn’t win the game we played very well. Big plays killed us. Basically all of their scores were on big plays. They didn’t really sustain a drive and just drive it down our throats. When they did we forced a fumble on the goal line and got the ball back.”
Dexter had 10 penalties for 69 yards while Ste. Gen had 6 penalties for 66 yards.
“Penalties stall our drives,” commented Peden. “We were moving the ball pretty well in spots. Then you go from second and one to second and twelve. You cannot work with that. Penalties were definitely a killer.”
Final Score Ste. Genevieve 27, Dexter 21
DHS 0 7 14 0 - 21
SGS 7 6 6 8 - 27
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
SG -- Austin Brewer 1 run (Drew Schmelzle kick), 3:12 (7-0 SG)
Second Quarter
SG -- Logan Rhinehart 52 run (Schmelzle kick no good), 10:42 (13-0 SG)
DX -- Peyton Pollock 33 run (Jason Jarrell kick), 8:17 (13-7 SG)
Third Quarter
SG -- Wyatt Lalumandier 39 run (conversion no good), 8:41 (19-7 SG)
DX -- Pollock 4 pass to Stevens (Jarrell kick), 6:00 (19-14 SG)
DX -- Pollock 29 pass to Stevens (Jarrell kick), 5:30 (21-19 DX)
Fourth Quarter
SG -- Lalumandier 47 pass to Dalton Giesler (Brewer run), 1:59 (27-21 SG)
|
Team Stats |
Dexter |
Ste. Gen |
|
First downs |
13 |
13 |
|
Rushing-yards |
35-152 |
39-280 |
|
Passings yards |
140 |
138 |
|
Comp-Att-Int |
16-27-1 |
7-15-0 |
|
Total yards |
285 |
379 |
|
Fumbles-lost |
1-1 |
5-5 |
|
Penalties-yards |
10-69 |
6-66 |
|
Punts-Avg. |
4-155 |
2-51 |
|
Possession Time |
28:02 |
19:58 |
|
Sacks by-Yards |
1-8 |
0-0 |
RUSHING - (Dexter) Peyton Pollock 19-92, Carson Dean 10-42, Dylan Bazarian 4-6, Ethan Stevens 2-12. (Ste. Genevieve) Wyatt Lalumandier 17-121, Austin Brewer 16-47, Luke Gettinger 4-60, Logan Rhinehart 2-52.
PASSING - (Dexter) Peyton Pollock 16-27-0. (Ste. Genevieve) Wyatt Lalumandier 7-15-0.
RECEIVING - (Dexter) Ethan Stevens 7-74, Austin Chesser 5-45, Gavin White 2-11, Tim Spence 1(-1), Jason Jarrell 1-11. (Ste. Genevieve) Logan Rhinehart 4-36, Dalton Giesler 2-52, Drew Schmelzle 1-50.
PUNTING - (Dexter) Ethan Stevens 4-155. (Ste. Genevieve) Drew Schmelzle 2-51.
