By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

BEARCAT FANS, it’s time for a TAILGATE PARTY!


The ‘Cats are taking on Class 3, District 2 runner up Park Hills Central in MSHSAA Playoff action on Wednesday night, and BEARCAT NATION is invited to the pregame celebration!


There will be BBQ Loin sandwiches provided for a donation, but everything else is BYOG (Bring Your Own Goodies). The cookout will start at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow, with the party starting at 5:00 p.m.


Bring any food items you want cooked to the DHS Tennis Courts at 3:00 - except hot dogs; bring those at 5:00 when the Tailgate starts.


We’ll also need plenty of chips, sodas, and hot dog buns, so be sure to bring enough to share!

Make arrangements with grillmaster Alan Hedrick for any other meats that need to be cooked.


Make sure to head out to the DHS Tennis Courts tomorrow afternoon at 5:00 p.m. to celebrate the Bearcats’ outstanding season and cheer them on to a win!

---


Make sure to check back with the ShowMe Times in the morning for a full preview of tomorrow night’s game!


GO BEARCATS!

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

There are few awards more coveted than being named First Team All-State to a Dexter Bearcat Football player. In DHS history, only 12 athletes have had that patch on their letterman jacket.


There is one award, however, that is only given to one Bearcat a year. A bronze trophy, similar in appearance to the Heisman Memorial Trophy, that was first awarded in 1994 - the Charles Bland Award.


History of the Bland Award

The Bland Award originates from a group of football enthusiasts 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.

Past Winners of the Bland Award



The Bland Award Selection Committee

Selection for the Bland Award has traditionally been handled by a committee of individuals close with the Bearcat Football program: Coach Aaron Pixley and his staff; Athletic Director Chuck Powers; Brett Dorton, ‘The Stats Guy’; Christin Stone, teacher; Jason Comfort, ’95 Bland Award recipient and committee spokesperson; Judy Patterson, DHS Counselor; and Alan Hedrick, Bland Award Founder.


This year, however, the committee has decided to throw in another member: Bearcat Nation.


Everyone can participate in this - simply click here to be taken to the 2011 Bland Award voting form and fill it out - the votes tallied for each athlete will be averaged, and will count as one of the seven votes for the recipient of the 2011 Charles Bland Award.

---

Make sure to go fill out the survey on who YOU think should win the 2011 Bland Award!


The polls close at 5:00 p.m., Sunday, November 6.

The winner of the 2011 Bland Award will be announced at the DHS Fall Sports Banquet, held on Tuesday, November 8.

ROLLA - After a sluggish first half the Missouri S&T Lady Miners turned up the heat in the second stanza of its exhibition contest with Central Methodist winning 64-32 on Saturday night in Rolla.

Both sides struggled to shoot the ball in the opening as S&T connected on only 36 percent of its attempts while Central Methodist made just 28 percent.

The Lady Miners trailed 12-10 with 10:33 to go in the first half before going on a 9-1 run to regain the lead.

The Eagles tied it at 21-21 with just over five minutes to play on a three from Dalyn Collins.

S&T ended the half strong scoring the last six of the frame to head into the locker room with a 27-21 lead.

The Lady Miners continued to struggle on the offensive end early in the second and CMU was able to take advantage scoring the first five points to cut the lead to 27-26 three minutes in.

Hailee Parks and Courtney Kemp scored back-to-back buckets extending the lead back to five at the 14:09 mark.

Alexa Fox made a jumper at the 13:28 mark to make it 31-28. That would be the closest Central Methodist got the rest of the night. S&T proceeded to put the game away with runs of 13-0 and 18-0 sandwiched around three points from the Eagles.

The Lady Miners held CMU to just one point in the final nine minutes of the contest.

S&T shot 48 percent from the floor in the second half to finish the night at 42 percent (24-for-57). The Lady Miners outrebounded the Eagles by a 39-to-33 margin while forcing 29 turnovers.

S&T had the edge in the paint scoring 34 points to just for CMU and turned those 29 turnovers into 30 points.

Karli Sample led the way for the Lady Miners with 13 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Toni Knar and Parks had nine and eight points respectively.

Dexter native Katelyn Heil finished the night shooting 2-5 from the floor (1-3 from three-point range), and totaled 5 points in the contest.

S&T will open its season against Park University on Thursday, November 17, at 7 p.m., at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.  

---

Missouri S&T is a four-year, NCAA Division II school, located in Rolla, Mo.

2009 DHS Alums Katelyn and Cathryn Heil are both members of the S&T Women's basketball team.

For more information on everything Miners Athletics, visit sports.mst.edu.

BOLIVAR - The SBU Bearcats football team had a tough match-up against the team who received the 26th most votes in nation, Missouri Western, and came up just short in the contest, dropping the thrilling SBU homecoming game 34-21. Dan Connors had two touchdowns passes, and Thad Everson had one rushing touchdown, but it wasn't enough for the Bearcats to overcome the Griffons.

SBU was able to jump out to an early 7-0 lead off of a rushing touchdown by Thad Everson from the four yard line. The 31 yard drive was set up by a fumble recovery by the SBU defense. Missouri Western responded by scoring back-to-back touchdowns to take a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter. However, SBU responded when Dan Connors hit Charles Johnson from three yards out to tie the game up at 14-14. Missouri Western would add a 23 yard field goal before half, giving them a 17-14 halftime lead.

SBU was able to come out of the locker room and put up three more points, tying the game at 17-17 with 8:00 left in the third quarter. However, Missouri Western responded by scoring two more touchdowns to take a 31-17 lead late in the third quarter. The SBU offense wasn't done though, when Dan Connors hit Marcus Sullivan 20 yards out for an SBU touchdown at the 9:53 mark, pulling SBU within 7, 31-24. The Bearcats defense came up big with a huge interception by Austin Otwell, but the Bearcats couldn't find the endzone to tie the game up.

Connors threw for around 200 yards, and two touchdowns, hitting four different receivers during the game. SBU had two players in double digit tackles, with Zach Moore and Chris Hawkins both collecting over 10 tackles. Moore also added one sack in game.

The Bearcats will be back in action on Saturday, November 5 when they host Emporia State. Kickoff is set for 2:00 p.m. from Plaster Stadium in Bolivar.

---

Southwest Baptist University is a four-year evangelical Christian university that was established in 1878. The main campus is located about 30 minutes north of Springfield, Missouri, in Bolivar, a town of approximately 10,000 people.

DHS alum Glen Johnson is a defensive lineman for the Bearcats.

For more information on SBU Bearcat Athletics, visit sbubearcats.com.

BOLIVAR - The Southwest Baptist University football team will continues to get national recognition this season, and have currently received the 38th most votes in the latest AFCA Division II Coaches Poll released earlier this week. SBU received three votes, and is the fourth consecutive week the Bearcats have received votes. The Bearcats will be hosting the Missouri Western Griffons in SBU’s Homecoming game this weekend. The Bearcats will be looking for their fourth straight Homecoming Day victory.

The SBU offense is lead by junior quarterback Dan Connors who has thrown for 1400 with eight touchdowns over the first eight games of the season. Connors has a completion percentage of 65.7% and is averaging 200 yards passing per game this season. Thad Everson leads all Bearcat rushers with 532 rushing yards and four touchdowns, while averaging 60.6 yards per game, and Charles Johnson leads the Bearcat receivers with 515 yards and five touchdowns, averaging 64.4 yards per game.

The Bearcat defense is lead by Zach Moore who has recorded team highs in tackles (66) and tackles for loss (4.5) this season. As a team, the Bearcats have wrapped up 13 sacks, picked off 10 passes, recovered 8 fumbles, and blocked 6 kicks on the season.

The Bearcats are off to the best start in school history, and look to move to 7-2 on the season with a victory over Missouri Western this Saturday. The game is set to kick off at 2:00 p.m. from Bolivar, Missouri.

The Coaches

Keith Allen has already engineered a significant turnaround at SBU, moving the ‘Cats from 0-11 his first year as interim coach, to 5-6 in 2008, to the winning record of 6-5 in 2009, and followed up with a 7-4 record in 2010. Allen served as defensive and recruiting coordinator before being named SBU head coach in 2007. His past coaching experience has included stops at San Jose State, Quincy, TCU and Oklahoma.

Jerry Partridge is in his 15th season as the head coach at Missouri Western State University. In Partridge’s fourteen previous seasons at Missouri Western, he has lead his team to an overall record of 103-59.

Scouting the Griffons

The Griffons enter into this weekend with a 6-2 record, coming off of a 45-7 win against Truman State University.

---

Southwest Baptist University is a four-year evangelical Christian university that was established in 1878. The main campus is located about 30 minutes north of Springfield, Missouri, in Bolivar, a town of approximately 10,000 people.

DHS alum Glen Johnson is a defensive lineman for the Bearcats.

For more information on SBU Bearcat Athletics, visit sbubearcats.com.