By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

It’s been a historical season for the Bearcats in 2011 - the squad has already broken the single-season rushing record, and is rapidly approaching the 3,000 yard mark. They’ve already broken the season scoring record. Cody Stevens has become the first Bearcat to rush and pass for over 1,000 yards in a season. Josh Overall could easily surpass the 1,000 yard rushing mark. Tyler Miller tied a MSHSAA record with 4 picks against New Madrid.

The Bearcats (8-1, 2-0 District) face off against the Fredericktown Black Cats on Thursday night for the Class 3, District 1 Title. Both teams are set to make the playoffs. All that’s on the line Thursday night is home-field advantage in the first round of the postseason, but the Bearcats have an opportunity to make more history with a win against the Black Cats: it would be the first time a Bearcat Football team has won back-to-back District Titles since 1986-87, coach Pixley’s junior and senior years of high school.

“What it means to me is my kids will have won back-to-back, that’s it,” Pixley said. “It means they have an opportunity to win a District Title, and it’ll be very special to them if they can get it done tomorrow night.”

“It’s been a good week of practice,” Pixley added. “We know that we’re in store for a very, very difficult football game; hopefully we’ll come out and respond.”


The Black Cats run a defense very similar to what the Bearcats faced last week against NMCC - a very active, ‘disruption’ oriented defense, with a lot of blitz packages to try to cover.

“We expect them to be very active up front on defense; they try to ruin your play before you really get going,” he said. “We’re going to have to execute better than we have in the past few weeks; this is a good football team.”

The Black Cats are led by junior quarterback Jeremy Gremminger, who is quite similar to Stevens - he’s just as likely to run as he is to throw, and has ‘big play’ capability every time the ball is in his hands.

Pixley noted the skill of the Black Cat running back, James Royer, as well as their offensive line.


“[Gremminger] is basically in the shotgun most of the time. They run a lot of counter-trey with him, and their running backs as well. Their whole running game is very good,” Pixley said. “They throw the ball very well. They mix up their play selection - it’s not just 80% run, 20% pass - they mix it up well, and that makes it tough on defense. We’re going to have to play well up front, in the secondary, and at linebacker - everywhere on defense. We have to be alert, because they’ll throw it on a running down and run it on a throwing down. We’re going to have to be prepared and alert at all times against this football team.”

“They get after you up front on both sides of the ball; probably one of the best offensive lines we’ve seen all year,” Pixley added. “We’re going to have to play very well up front.”

Both squads are undefeated in District 1 play heading into the contest. Fredericktown notched a blowout win (63-14) against Kennett on Friday night, while keeping things a little closer with NMCC (36-14) in week eight. Both teams also downed Park Hills Central with similar scores - 35-23 (Fredericktown), 37-27 (Dexter) - but the Ste. Genevive Dragons were able to knock off Fredericktown 46-20 in week three.

The District Championship game is set to get underway with a 7:00 kickoff, with DHS Senior Night festivities at 6:30.

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Editor’s Note: Dalton Putnam is expected to be out again for the ‘Cats; Chase Young and Garrett Wray will be filling in on defense and offense, respectively.

As always, if you can’t make it to the game, I’ll be Tweeting the scores and big plays of the contest from the sidelines - just keep checking back with our Facebook or Twitter page for updates!

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

The Bearcats rolled in Friday night's annual 'Pixley Family Throwdown' at New Madrid.

Records, on both the state and school levels, were tied or broken by both of our players of the week.

Without further adieu, here are your Players of the Week for Week Nine!

OFFENSE: #7 - Cody Stevens

Cody had an outstanding performance in the Bearcats' blowout win at New Madrid, throwing for 175 yards and rushing for 93 yards.
The senior became the 11th member of the Dexter 1,000 Yard Club AND became the first player in DHS history to run (1,027 yards) and throw (1,183 yards) for over 1,000 yards in a single season.
Stevens is also the only second-generation member of the 1,000 Yard Club - his dad, Nate, had 1,000 yards in both the '85 and '86 seasons.

New winners emerged in the ninth week of the ShowMe Time’s Pigskin Pick’Em Challenge.

Leading the pack of players this week was Trey Davis, who captured the first place spot with 18 total points. Trey receives a gift certificate from Rob Scott photography valued at $75.

Right behind Trey were Jason Pounds and Dylan Sandlin, who tied for second place with 17 points each.

Jason will win a package of prizes from EZ Check & Gold Buyers, The Hideaway, Ann-Marie’s Boutique, and the Metro Gallery. Dylan will receive prizes from the Mud Magnet, Locust Street Flowers, Leon’s Dexter Queen, and Burger King.

Our random winners this week are Karen Kiger and Kevin Bishop. Karen receives a package with pries from Kathleen’s and Dexter Cinema; Kevin’s package includes gifts from Luvleigh Creations and Gary’s Quick Stop.

Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to all our sponsors!! And don’t forget to play the final week of Pigskin Pick’Em on the ShowMe Times!

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

The Class 3, District 1 Volleyball tournament carried on with three games on Tuesday evening at the Bearcat Event Center. In the two semifinal matches, the No. 1 Perryville Lady Pirates faced off against the No. 4 Kennett Indians, while Notre Dame faced off against host Dexter in a No. 2/No. 3 matchup.

The Lady Pirates breezed through Kennett in two sets, winning 25-17, 25-12, and advancing to the District Championship game.


In the second semifinal game, the Lady ‘Cats continued their struggles against Notre Dame, and fell in two sets, 15-25, 16-15, despite missing only 2 serves in the contest - Dexter’s Achilles' heel in the regular-season finale.

Coach Lauren Hutchcraft didn’t feel her squad played up to their potential during the season-ending loss.

“I always feel like we can play better.  I still don't feel like they played up to their potential, but I can't change what happened on the court tonight,” she said.  “I don't think us not missing as many serves had any affect on the game, to be honest.”

Erika Cobb had a solid performance for the Lady ‘Cats, with 5 digs, 4 kills, 3 aces, and 7/8 serves. Hannah Noe continued her excellent play, with 6 assists, 5 digs, 1 kill, 1 block, and 6/7 serves.


Hutchcraft played some of her younger players during the second set - Alyssa Spear and Madison McGowan - during the second set of the match in an effort to ‘switch it up’ against the Bulldogs.

  “I played some of those younger kids because I thought they could help us out,” Hutchcraft said.  “This was our third time playing Notre Dame and I was STILL getting the same results with the same thing, I felt I had to make a change if I wanted to try to win.”

 With the loss, the Lady ‘Cats end the season with a 19-10-2 record, with only four of their losses coming in the regular season. The squad loses four seniors - Lindsey Hindman, McKenzie Mitchell, Erika Mouser, and Lauren Ward.

“Well, since I'm on my second year, I was fortunate to have them two of their four years in high school,” Hutchcraft said.  “They provided me with many memories and contributed to the team in many different capacities and roles.  They had a very good season this year, and they should all be proud seeing as to how they contributed a lot this season to the team.”

  Overall, Hutchcraft says she has a good feeling heading into next season with all the young talent she has, and she commended her girls’ performance during the season, both on and off the court.

“This was a fun and exciting season.  We started doing volleyball stuff the first weekend in June and went non-stop,” she said.  “The girls only lost 4 regular season games, so they should be very proud of themselves.  Most of these kids choose to give up their time in the summer and school year to be part of a team.  I commend these girls for their hard work in the classroom at school, every day at practice, and every night they had games.  It's not easy being an athlete!”


“As a coach and teacher, I can only hope that my girls went away with learning what it truly means to make a commitment to their team, learned how to work together to accomplish a goal, and learned what hard work actually is,” she continued. “There are many lessons to be learned when girls choose to be part of a team in high school, and I hope they learned something other than to not make me mad or I might break a clipboard!”


The seeds held true in the District Championship game, with Perryville downing Notre Dame in two sets, 25-13 and 25-22. The Lady Pirates advance to the State playoffs, and will be in action again on October 29, when they face off against the winner of tonight’s District 3 Chapmionship between Lutheran South and Bishop DuBourg.

The T S Hill Middle School boy's basketball team brought their action home Tuesday night for the 2011 season home opener against the Advance Hornets. A large crowd was on hand to pack the gymnasium to watch the ‘Cats in action.

The seventh grade team led off the night with a heart pounding, overtime loss to the Hornets. A big 2nd quarter by Advance gave the Hornets a commanding lead at halftime of 23 to 9 over the ‘Cats.

 However,  the Bearcats made up ground on the Hornets in the 3rd quarter outscoring Advance by 5 points, 16 to 11. They then turned on the guns in the final quarter making 12 to 0 run to lead the game by a score of 37 to 34 with only seconds remaining in the contest.

But there was one last chance for the Advance Hornets. Inbounding the ball from near mid court, Advance delivered the ball into the hands of #22 Preston Wuebker. With a last ditch effort, Wuebker sailed the ball from well beyond the three point line to bank the shot in “Good” to tie the game 37 all.

In overtime, the Bearcats could not overcome the momentum of the Hornets. Brandon Sokolowski made an old fashioned three-point play to gain the lead. Jason Jarrell answered with 2 points with 20 seconds remaining but it wasn’t enough. The Bearcats fell to the Advance Hornets by a score of 42 to 39.

Jason Jarrell dominated the court putting in 25 of the Bearcat points. Jarrell is extremely smooth on the court playing excellent defense, as well as a strong rebounder for the ‘Cats. He was followed in scoring by Zach Potts and Riley Mason, both with 4 points. Bryce Simmons contributed from the defensive side of the court, making a timely steal of the ball to set Potts up for a free throw late in the game.

In eight grade action, the Bearcats jumped out to a first quarter 11-point lead on the Hornets and never looked back from there. It was a good opportunity for the coaching staff to get time for their entire team, as nearly every Bearcat put points on the board in the contest.

Four Bearcats put up strong numbers with Ethan Flowers leading all scorers with 11-points on the night. He was followed by Cole Renken with 9, Austin Chesser and Chandler Young both with 8 points.

With the scoring so evenly spread, the highlight of the game was the strong defensive effort of the 8th Grade ‘Cats. It was an overall team effort during all four quarters of the game.

The Middle School Bearcats will be in action this Friday again taking on the Bernie Mules. Game time will begin at 6:00 PM in Bernie.