Essex, Missouri - The Jr. High SCAA Boys Basketball Tournament is slated to begin Saturday, November 12th at Richland.

This will be a six team single elimination tournament.

Seated #1 Bernie Mules, #2 Bloomfield Wildcats, #3 Dexter Bearcats, #4 Advance Hornets, #5 Woodland Cardinals, #6 Puxico Indians.

Advance will play Woodland at 11:15 a.m. on Saturday and Dexter will play Puxico at 1:45 p.m. on Saturday.

Bernie will play the winner of the Advance/Woodland game on Monday, November 14th at 4:00 p.m.

Bloomfield will play the winner of the Dexter/Puxico game on Monday, November 14th at 6:30 p.m.

Dexter, Missouri - Coach Goltra, head football coach at Dexter High School also teaches weightlifting.  His students are collecting winter coats for charity.

Coats can be slightly used or new and all sizes are needed.  Donations can be made to a student in the weightlifting class or drop off with Coach Goltra at the high school.

These students want to do something for their community and with cold weather slowly approaching, it's time to go through your closet and donate to those who may not be able to afford new coats or have children that just grow too fast.

Congratulations to Mark McArtor on breaking the state record by catching a 9-pound, 1-ounce hybrid striped bass with a jug line on the Lake of the Ozarks.

Camdenton, Missouri - The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) reports that Mark McArtor of Camdenton became the most recent record-breaking angler in Missouri when he caught a hybrid striped bass on the Lake of the Ozarks.

The new “alternative method” record hybrid striped bass caught by McArtor on Oct. 31 weighed 9-pounds, 1-ounce with a length of 27 inches. McArtor caught the fish with a jug line in front of his house on the lake.

“My wife and I are thrilled to have caught a state record fish,” McArtor said. “I still can’t believe it!”

McArtor said he was using shad for bait trying to catch blue catfish when he caught the large hybrid striped bass.

“This wasn’t the first hybrid striped bass we caught,” he said. “We actually caught a pretty decent sized one last year, but it didn’t meet the qualifications for the Department’s master angler program.”

MDC staff verified the record-weight fish using a certified scale in Camdenton. This is the 15th state record fish caught this year by an angler.

“A state record fish can be caught any time of the year, but we normally do not receive many state record fish applications once summer is over, “said MDC Fisheries Programs Specialist Andrew Branson. “But since the weather has been warmer this year a lot people are still fishing, which means a better chance of someone catching a state record fish.”

McArtor noted he hopes to catch more state record fish like this one with his wife.

“Catching another state record would be great, but really I am just happy with what the lake provides,” McArtor said.

Missouri state-record fish are recognized in two categories: pole-and-line and alternative methods. Alternative methods include: throwlines, trotlines, limb lines, bank lines, jug lines, spearfishing, snagging, snaring, gigging, grabbing, archery, and atlatl.

Photo and article submitted by the Missouri Conservation Department.

Dexter, Missouri - There is one award given to a Football Bearcat each year that has become a tradition at Dexter High School, the Charles Bland Award!  It is a bronze trophy and was originally awarded in 1994. This is the 22rd year that a group of football enthusiasts have honored a Bearcat and the 2016 recipient is senior Jason Jarrell.

Jarrell is the son of Denny and Paula Jarrell.

He has been a member of the Baseball, Basketball, and Football Teams all four years of high school. He is also a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Future Business Leaders of America, Sr. BETA Club, and National Honor Society.

His future plans are to attend college and is undecided in a major at this time.


History of the Bland Award

The Bland Award originated from a group of former Bearcat football players and fans who had an interest in honoring the most outstanding student-athlete from the Bearcat Football team.


The selected Bearcat must meet very strict criteria in many areas of the scholar-athlete life, including: Scholastic Ability, School Participation & Attendance, Community Involvement, Leadership Qualities, Personal & Team Attitude, and Athletic Performance.

A Bland Award recipient should reflect the qualities that interscholastic sports programs have to offer. In no way should this award be seen as a trophy strictly for athleticism; rather, it is to celebrate the most outstanding, well-rounded student-athlete from the senior class.


The late Charles ‘Seed’ Bland - the man that the stadium these athletes battled in during their high school careers - was a very active supporter of the Dexter School System for many years. The most amazing gift ‘Seed’ gave was his pride in the Bearcats, as well as the young people of Dexter High School.


Known only to a few, the late Ruth Bland was the ‘athlete of the family’ and was a standout for both the DHS basketball and track teams. It has been written that she was ‘the best female athlete in Southeast Missouri’ during her time.


Together, the Bland family has been there to support Dexter Schools and Bearcat Athletics for over 60 years.

Congratulations Jason!

Dexter, Missouri - The Advance 8th grade Hornets had a tough opponent on Tuesday evening at T.S. Hill Middle School.  The Bearcats ran over them 64 - 4 improving the 8th grade boys basketball team record to 4 - 0 this season.

The Bearcats held the Hornets to scoreless periods, the second quarter and the third quarter.  Advance scored 1 bucket in the first and 1 bucket in the fourth.

Andrew Ellinghouse recorded a game-high 15 points on 7 buckets and one from the charity stripe.

Jackson Allen tallied 12 points.  He recorded all his points on 3-pointers.

Ryan Collier had 2 treys, Peyton Driskill and Landon Hoggard each had a trey.

Final Score  Dexter 64,  Advance 4

Dexter         21   12    18   13  -  64

Advance        2     0      0     2  -    4

Dexter (64) - Jackson Allen 12, Ryan Collier 8, Andrew Ellinghouse 15, Peyton driskill 7, Riley Moore 4, Landon Hoggard 3, Austin Daniels 7, Riley Slusher 8.  FG 27, FT 2/8, F 11. (3-pointers: Jackson Allen 4, Ryan Collier 2, Peyton Driskill 1, and Landon Hoggard 1.  Fouled Out: None)

Advance (4) - Dylan Taylor 2, Ridley Bailey 2. FG 2, FT 0/4, F 6. (3-pointers: None, Fouled Out: None).

The Bearcats will be back in action on Thursday traveling to rival town of Bloomfield.  Game time 6:00 p.m.