After giving up two early touchdowns, the Dexter Bearcat JV football team fought back valiantly, but came up a little short in their comeback bid against the visiting Kennett Indians.
In the opening quarter, Kennett scored touchdowns on each of their first two possessions. The first was a 32 yard TD pass from Kennett's freshman quarterback Akeem Nelson to Fred Gooden. After Kennett's defense forced the Bearcats to punt on their opening possession, Hunter Haynes blasted a 47 yarder into the Indians end zone. On their second possession of the game, Kennett quickly found the end zone again from deep in their own territory. This time it was Nelson hooking up with Andre Oliver on a 77 yard touchdown pass. At the end of the first quarter, Kennett was on top by the score of 14-0.
Nelson, who only played in the first two quarters of Monday nights game looked impressive; however, this was not his first visit to Charles Bland Stadium this season, as Nelson is also a starting wide receiver and defensive back for the varsity Indians.
The Bearcats offense found themselves back on track in the second quarter, and quickly got on the scoreboard after an long and impressive drive. The scoring drive started with two spectacular runs of 26 and 21 yards by Bearcat running back Carson Dean. The drive concluded with quarterback Gavin White sneaking the ball into the end zone from the 1 yard line. The PAT kick from Aaron Sandlin was successful and the Bearcats had cut the Kennett lead to 14-7.
Just before the end of the first half, the Kennett offense was driving towards another score when Hunter Hayes came up with a huge sack, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Dexter's Storm Massey. At half, the Indians remained on top by the score of 14-7.
In the second half, the Bearcat defense played excellent. They did not allow any big plays from Kennett, they read the plays well and swarmed to the football. The defense did not allow any scores from the Kennett offense in the remainder of the contest, and twice put the Bearcat offense in a position to score and tie the game.
Early in the fourth quarter the Bearcat offense drove the ball down to the Kennett 10 yard line, but on 4th and goal Andre Oliver came up with a huge interception at the goal line and kept the Bearcats from evening up the scoreboard.
On the ensuing Kennett possession the Bearcats came up with yet another fantastic defensive stand, forcing the Indians to punt from their own end zone. The short punt left the Bearcats with excellent field position at the Kennett 20 yard line. However, this potential game tying drive also ended with a Kennett interception.
The Indians were able to run the ball effectively on the next drive, running time off the clock and forcing the Bearcats to use all of their remaining time-outs. The Bearcats ultimately forced Kennett to punt the ball away and the Bearcats has 27 seconds on the clock to move the ball 95 yards for the score. However, with the quarterback in the shotgun position the snap sailed over his head and into the end zone, resulting in a safety on the final play of the game.
The Indians came away victorious in the contest by the final score of 16-7. With the loss the JV Bearcats go to 1-3-1 on the season.
Dexter QB Gavin White completed 4 of 10 attempts for a total of 86 yards passing. Hunter Hayes caught 2 passes for 19 yards, Brandon Berry had one reception for 38 yards, and Austin Chesser hauled in a pass for 29 yards.
The Bearcats rushing attack was led by Carson Dean, who had 74 yards on only 7 carries. Gavin White ran the ball for 16 yards, Tim Spence carried the ball for 10 yards, and Jacob Murdock had two carries for a total of 6 yards.
On the defensive side of the ball, Nathan Cox led the team with 5 tackles. Austin Chesser, Brandon Berry, Hunter Hayes, Carson Dean and Brandon Wick each came up big with 4 tackles each.
The JV Bearcats fought hard on both sides of the ball and just came up a little short. The 'Cats have really made progress in every game this year and will continue so throughout the year.
Jessica Snider SMT Writer
Fans from both teams knew the game would be a tough one. Both Leopold and Dexter have some great talent out on the court.
Last night’s game might not have ended in the Bearcat’s favor, but not one player has a thing to hang their head about. The game went three sets as anticipated by many people, and each team fought hard to try and claim the victory. Leopold’s nearly perfect pass, set, and kill routine each time the ball came on their side could not be stopped by the Bearcats in two of the three sets.
During the first set, Dexter hung in there close neck and neck with Leopold, but in the end Leopold came out ahead with a 20-25 first set victory.
Stepping onto the court for the second match, the Dexter Bearcats had a different attitude. They were all down and ready for each pass and ready to attack every ball that came over the net. This worked in the Bearcats’ favor as they took the second set 25-21.
Each team, knowing the importance of the third set, came out on the court with nothing but victory on their minds. The points were handed back and forth between the two teams for the majority of the third set. Fans from both teams could not sit still in midst of the excitement. Ultimately, Leopold pulled ahead at the end of the third set with a 21-25 victory and handed Dexter the loss.
The Dexter Bearcats will use today to get onto the court for practice and to work on things Coach Morgan sees necessary. They will be back in action tomorrow night against Sikeston in the Bearcat Event Center. Junior Varsity will be played at 6:00 P.M. with Varsity immediately following.
Jessica Snider SMT Writer
The Dexter Lady Bearcat Volleyball Team kicked off the week’s competition by traveling to Advance yesterday evening.
Coaches, players, and fans all anticipated a very good game between the two very talented teams. There was a big turnout for the visiting Bearcats as many high school students made the travel to support their team.
It was an intense game with every point having fans from both teams sliding closer to the edge of their seat. The first set went back and forth the whole time until Advance pulled ahead with a 22-25 victory.
The Dexter Bearcats stepped back onto the court fired up and ready to win after leaving the huddle with Coach Morgan. They knew they needed to step up their aggression and begin attacking the ball. The team delivered great competition during the second set which gave them a 25-17 victory over the Hornets.
With a close first and second set, the pressure was on for the Bearcats to take the third set and return home with a victory. Both teams came onto the court wanting to win, but Dexter could not return some of Advance’s spot on kills.
Dexter ultimately fell in the third set 17-25 to the Advance Hornets. This is the Bearcat’s first SCAA loss.
The Dexter Lady Bearcats will be back in action tonight against Leopold in the Bearcat Event Center. Junior Varsity will start at 6:00 P.M. with Varsity following immediately after.
Written by
Jessica Snider SMT Writer
It was a busy weekend for the Lady Bearcat Tennis Team as they traveled to Farmington early Saturday morning for the annual Farmington Tournament. This tournament held every year is a varsity only competition.
Dexter faced six other schools in the tournament. A few teams were from the South St. Louis area and Notre Dame competed as well.
Each team invited to the tournament is asked to provide two doubles teams and two players to enter the competition in singles play. Dexter’s two singles entries were Baylee Cooper and Erica Morgan. Morgan moved up to fill the shoes of senior Hailee Hubbard who had to withdraw due to injury. Playing on the number one doubles team was Allison Jarrell and Kendra Stevenson who are both providing consistent victories for the team this year. Playing on the number two doubles were MaKayla Waldner and Katelynn Frazier.
After three rounds of play, Dexter still had all six competitors in the winner’s brackets in the quarterfinals. Both Morgan and Cooper in the singles competition lost before the final round.
Holding on in the finals was Dexter’s number one and two doubles teams who played each other for Champion and Reserve. The number two Dexter doubles team of MaKayla Waldner and Katelynn Frazier came out with the overall win.
The Dexter Lady Bearcat Tennis Team won the overall championship by over ten points. Coach Leanne Dooley commented on the victory, “I’m very proud of the girls and I can see that we’ve made quite a bit of progress this season.”
Congratulations to these girls in taking home another big Farmington Tournament win!
Shown in the above photo and to the left is the number two doubles team of Katelynn Frazier and MaKayla Waldner.
Pictured in the photo to the right is the number one doubles team of Alison Jarrell and Kendra Stevenson.
(These great pictures were provided to SMT Sports courtesy of Mrs. Kay Stevenson - Thank You! ;-)
"Offensively, we really got things going tonight, and we moved the ball well," said Pixley. Last night's victory was his 13 consecutive win against the Kennett Indians. Pixley addressed the importance of a balance offense, "If you can't run the football then you are not going to be able to throw effectively, and we proved that the first four weeks." Pixley went on to say that, "Tonight we proved that when we run the ball well, then our play action passes open up. I was really proud of my offensive line tonight and I felt that they really got some good push against a bigger and faster opponent."
Things quickly changed in the favor of the Bearcats in the second quarter, beginning with Sophomore DB Austin Aldridge stepping in front of the Kennett receiver and intercepting a pass from Wallace, enabling the Bearcats to start their next drive from the Kennett 20 yard line. A 15 yard rush from Joyner moved the ball down near the Indians goal line, and two plays later Dexter QB DJ Dowdy scampering in from 2 yards out. Following the successful PAT by Brad Wick, the Bearcats moved out to an early lead of 7-0.
On the ensuing kickoff, a solid Kennett return postioned the Indians near mid-field. The seven-play scoring drive ended when Kennett's Wallace scampered around the left side and scored Kennett's sole touchdown from 26 yards out, his longest run of the evening. Wallace, a dual-threat quarterback, ended the game with a total of 71 rushing yards and 51 passing yards.
