Written by
Dee Loflin, SMT Manager/Editor
It wasn't planned. It had not been discussed in practice. It was a dramatic gutsy play and Peden took a huge risk knowing it might fail, but he had confidence and that was on his side Friday night. His boys came through and the famous "hook and ladder" play put the Bulldogs back in the dawg-house!
“I could hear the guys saying ‘don’t stop, keep going,” stated head football coach Justin Peden. “They really wanted to rally because they knew there was still time on the clock and our offense can at any time score if needed. They were still up and didn’t want to walk out of here with a close loss. They wanted to win and it was awesome to see the fire in their eyes.”
It was the 4th quarter and the Bulldogs scored giving them their first lead of the game 15-14 and with just 48 seconds left on the clock. It was do or die for the Bearcats!
Dexter out of timeouts began their game winning drive on the 48-yard line. On the first play of the drive quarterback Peyton Pollock passed the ball right to Austin Aldridge for a gain of 19 yards. Austin threw the ball laterally to Ethan Stevens who ran more than 30 yards for the game-winning touchdown. The play took only 14 seconds!!
Bearcat fans were on their feet. Football players were cheering from the sideline and on the field so much that they earned a penalty for excessive celebration, but it was well worth the yardage! There was still 34 seconds left on the clock, enough time for the Bulldogs to score. With the crowd standing one could hear "hold them Bearcats, hold them!"
Sikeston's Nathan Hampton passed right to Corbyn Blissett complete for 8 yards. Hampton then passed left to Donel Cobb complete for another 4 yards. With just a few seconds left on the clock, Hampton shot a pass up the middle for a BEARCAT INTERCEPTION! Drake Mitchell captured the ball and ended the game!
Final score Sikeston 15, Dexter 20. It was a sweet victory for Dexter. Most thought they had a chance, but in the back of their minds thought Sikeston might just pull it out on their home turf.
"It was great!” exclaimed Peden. “It was a hook and lateral. You see it often in college games. We hadn’t ran it. Actually we drew it up on the sideline. I am a big fan of running plays like that every once in a while. It worked for us and it was an exciting way to end the game!”
Dexter led the first half 14-0 and felt good going into the locker room with the comfortable lead. Carson Dean #1 had a one-yard touchdown run with 6:44 left in the first quarter and Jake Adams #4 ran four yards for another touchdown with 5:53 left in the second quarter.
Sikeston answered with their own touchdown in the third quarter when Victwon Riley ran from the one-yard line. He also ran in for the two points afterwards giving them eight points on the board. Third quarter score Sikeston 8, Dexter 14.
With less than a minute remaining in the 4th quarter Sikeston began the drive that could have sealed a win for the Bulldogs. Victwon Riley ran up the middle for 3 yards, tackled by Dexter’s Drake Mitchell. On the very next play Nathan Hampton passed the ball to Shawn Blunt for 38 yards giving the Bulldogs a first down. Victwon Riley ran the ball for one yard followed by Earnest Fobbs who ran up the middle for a Sikeston touchdown. The extra point was good earning them the first lead of the game, but the spirit of the Bearcats prevailed winning the game with just a half minute left in the fourth quarter.
Dexter led the Bulldogs in passing 200-97 yards. Sikeston ran the ball for 181 yards and Dexter ran for 167 yards. Dexter led with 16 first downs. Sikeston had 15 first downs. Dexter had an impressive 81 tackles against Sikeston. The Bulldogs tallied 52 tackles.
Noah Kronk led the Bearcats with a total of 13 tackles, a broken pass and one fumble recovery. Drake Mitchell tallied 10 tackles and the game-ending interception. Dylan Bazarian also accumulated 10 tackles and Jake Adams had 9 tackles. Bo McMullin added 7 tackles.
“The defense played awesome! I am so proud of the them. They were aggressive,” Peden said. “Sikeston has really good athletes and we were able to make plays when we needed to stop them because we have a team concept of swarming to the ball and knowing your assignments. Coach Lummukka, our defensive coordinator, always says ‘alignment, assignment, attack’. Those guys took that to heart and you could tell because everyone was where they were supposed to be.”
Austin Chesser had a tremendous night catching the ball six times for 117 yards including a game-high 32-yard catch. He averaged 19.5 yards per carry for Dexter.
“He was open, but our offense isn’t about one guy,” stated Peden. “It’s about spreading the ball around tow however the defense lets us throw to and tonight it was Chesser. He had a big game. Next week it could be Aldridge and the week after that it could be Stevens again or it might be Carson Dean. It doesn’t matter. We don’t have a primary target. We have four good receivers, three good running backs and a good quarterback so whoever is open is who we are throwing the ball to.”
Dexter has unfortunately lost the last six times they have played against Sikeston.
“It’s huge for our program because Dexter has been down a little bit the last couple of years. It is great for these guys to be able to learn how to win again, especially against a team like Sikeston,” commented Peden. “People said ‘they might be able to have a chance or play well, but didn’t really give us a chance’. We kind of let people know we are a good football team. We are not just much improved. We want to be in games and win games. For the guys it was huge because now they know we can compete with and beat anybody on our schedule. Close looses aren’t good enough anymore and once the program gets in that mentality it’s going to be fun to watch.”
The Dexter Bearcats (2-2) will travel to Caruthersville Friday, September 19th. Game time 7:00 p.m. Don't forget to wear your BLACK in support of the Black-Out the Tigers on Friday.
Final Score Dexter 20, Sikeston 15
Dexter 7 7 0 6 - 20
Sikeston 0 0 8 7 - 15
First Quarter
DX - Carson Dean 1 run (Jason Jarrell kick), 6:44 (7-0 Dexter)
Second Quarter
DX - Jake Adams 4 run (Jarrell kick), 5:53 (14-0 Dexter)
Third Quarter
S - Victwon Riley 1 run (conversion good), 5:44 (14-8 Dexter)
Fourth Quarter
S - Earnest Fobbs 1 run (Nathan Hampton kick), 0:48 (15-14 Sikeston)
DX - Pollock +19 pass to Austin Aldridge lateral to Ethan Stevens +30 run, (0:34) (20-15 Dexter)
TEAM STATISTICS
|
Stat |
DEXTER |
SIKESTON |
|
First downs |
16 |
15 |
|
Rushing-yards |
40-142 |
44-143 |
|
Passing yards |
200 |
97 |
|
Comp-Att-Int |
11-22-1 |
7-18-2 |
|
Total yards |
342 |
240 |
|
Fumbles-lost |
1-1 |
1-1 |
|
Penalties-yards |
6-61 |
4-35 |
|
Punts-Avg. |
5-37.4 |
6-32 |
|
Possession Time |
26:24 |
21:26 |
|
Sacks by-yards |
0-0 |
2-15 |
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing - (Dexter) Peyton Pollock 17-53, Carson Dean 16-60, Dylan Bazarian 4-21, Jake Adams 2-4, Ethan Stevens 1-4. (Sikeston) Earnest Fobbs 15-51, Victwon Riley 13-35, Nathan Hampton 6-(-4), Justin Faulkner 4-41, Phazun Fobbs 4-4, Jacob Reynolds 2-16.
Passing - (Dexter) Peyton Pollock 10-21-1 = 188. (Sikeston) Nathan Hampton 7-18-2 = 97.
Receiving - (Dexter) Austin Chesser 6-117, Ethan Stevens 1-35, Carson Dean 1-13, Peyton Pollock 1-12, Austin Aldridge 1-19, Jason Jarrell 1-4. (Sikeston) Donnell Cobb 3-19, Corbyn Blissett 2-42, Shawn Blunt 1-38, Earnest Fobbs 1(-2).
Punting - (Dexter) Ethan Stevens 4-146, Jason Jarrell 1-41. (Sikeston) Nathan Hampton 6-192.
Check out the video of the game winning touchdown by Ethan Stevens, Austin Aldridge and Peyton Pollock! Just click the image below!
