Last night the 7th and 8th grade Dexter Bearcats went on the road to take on the Chaffee Red Devils in football action. The first game was a defensive showdown with the Bearcats outlasting the Red Devils in a game filled with toughness. The 7th grade Bearcats were able to keep the game close against the Red Devils and came out on top in the contest and won 6-0.
The 8th grade Dexter Bearcat team was clicking on all cylinders last night at Chaffee and defeated the 8th grade Red Devils. The 'Cats offense drove the ball up and down the field behind a potent rushing attack and well played passing game. Dexter won the 8th grade game in convincing fashion by the score of 32-0.
The Middle School Bearcats next game will be on the road against an always tough opponent in the New Madrid County Central Eagles on Tuesday October 2nd.
SMT Writer Nathan Gibson
The Dexter Bearcats won their game last week against the Kennett Indians in convincing fashion. The Bearcats looked good on both sides of the ball.
The 'Cats played well behind an opportunistic defense and a well balanced offense as they went on to beat the Kennett Indians by the score of 26-7.
The New Madrid County Central Eagles come into the game with a record of 1-5 after a loss to a very good Caruthersville Tigers team. The Central Eagles only win this year came against the Kennett Indians on September 8th at home by the final score of 31-7.
In the Eagles game against the Caruthersville Tigers last week the Eagles were defeated convincingly by the score of 41-14. After being down at halftime 27-0, the Eagles fought hard and managed a touchdown in each of the final two quarters of the second half."We gave up way too many big plays," NMCC head coach Arlen Pixley said. "Big plays have been killing us."
The Eagles have several talented and athletic players at the skill positions such as 6-3, 180-pound receiver, Devon Harrell. Harrell scored one of the Eagles touchdowns on a 20 yard pass and subsequent 50 yard run in the third quarter.
The Tigers offense was too much to handle however as they won the game by the final score of 41-14.
With both the Bearcats and the Eagles only wins coming against the Kennett Indians, this looks to be a very interesting matchup of two teams looking to get another W in the win column.
Jessica Snider SMT Writer
After two straight losses earlier in the week, the Dexter Lady Bearcat Volleyball Team picked things up last night in their game against Sikeston.
It was a very quick Junior Varsity win with a fast-pace Varsity victory immediately following.
The two losses earlier in the week were well-fought games and each player played their hardest. No fan or player walked into the Bearcat Event Center Thursday night hanging their head. The game against Sikeston was their opportunity to get back on a winning streak and pick up the team’s momentum.
The Bearcats took the victory against Sikeston in just two games. Dexter came out strong with their hitting game. That’s not to say that Sikeston didn’t return the favor though. The Sikeston volleyball team has a talent to be respected. The Dexter team refused to take no for an answer as they dug up many of Sikeston’s kills.
The first set was a little closer than some fans felt comfortable with, but Dexter ran away with the lead with a 25-17 victory. The second set went by much faster as the Bearcats barely let Sikeston gain a point. Dexter took the second set to end with game with a big 25-9 win.
The Bearcat volleyball team will be back on the courts for competition Monday night as they invite the Puxico Indians into the Bearcat Event Center for a Junior Varsity and Varsity match up.
SMT Players of the Week FIVE
Nothing excites a team like a victory. The Dexter Bearcats found their first win of the season last week against the Kennett Indians by a score of 26 to 7.
The Bearcats had a good performance against the Indians both offensively and defensively. With such a strong team effort and several standout players, picking the SMT Players of the Week was a long discussion among those voting members.
Senior leadership prevailed this week as both members are repeat choices for Player of the Week. But there was no argument that others may have equaled the performance of Chase Noe and Ryan Joyner, but no one exceeded their contribution to the win.
Senior Ryan Joyner came out as the pick for WEEK FIVE and was named as the Offensive Player of the Week. Joyner blasted through the line of scrimmage throughout the contest to put together 135-yards on the night. Many times, the strong quick Kennett Indians defense would close the hole, and Joyner would simply take on the tackler heads up and come out with a good gain.
"Ryan ran the ball hard," added head coach Aaron Pixley. "We are real proud of his performance last week."
The WEEK FIVE Defensive Player of the Week is defensive lineman, Chase Noe. Chase was able to battle against the Kennett offense gathering 11 tackles on the night.
Coach Aaron Pixley commented, "What can you say about Chase. He's a gamer and a part of our senior leadership that we count on week in and week out."
The Bearcats will take on the New Madrid County Eagles Friday night in the battle of head coaches. Arlen and Aaron Pixley have coached together and against one another.
The ShowMe Times is proud to highlight the individual performance of two Dexter Bearcat Football student-athletes each week as the SMT Players of the Week. No one individual's contribution wins a game or makes the team strong. Yet the coordinated effort of many make for a winning combination.
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.
