Organized to allow the 6th grade athletes experience playing as one team after the DPR season, the group found that their opponents had been playing all season together. That experience proved to be a challenge for the young 'Cats, as the Mean Machine were able to perform their plays without flaw.
"It's really tough when you lose a game that you really feel that you were the better team," commented coach Darren Hillis. "These guys (Cape) have been traveling all season in St. Louis and Memphis against older teams and simply executed real well against us."
Nonetheless, the Bearcats had many bright spots in the game. One particular bragging point was the offensive line. The line is made of Garrison Collier, Luke Boyer, Colten Rogers, James Robinson, Brock Simmons and Hunter Lawrence. They really came off the ball and took control of the running game, providing good holes for the backfield to run through.
That backfield was filled with Joe Rice at quarterback and running backs of Corbin Strong, Seth Rogers and Colten Gibson. Fans and family that traveled to the game also saw a great performance by wide receiver Nate Gargis. Nate had a couple of receptions on the day but was very effective on both kickoff returns and the offensive reverse. 
The big plays of the Cape Mean Machine were just a little more than the Bearcats were able to stop. They primarily attacked the outside of the Bearcat defensive and were able to get away on long runs to the endzone. Coach Aaron Pixley was on hand to watch the team play. Pixley has always shown a keen interest in his younger programs and the development of the his program.
"I saw a lot of things that I liked out there," noted Pixley. "There is a lot of raw talent and these young men just need to be willing to work and improve their strength and speed."
Oddly enough, the team was reminded in the post game talk that it is only a few short years before they will become the property of Coach Pixley's high school program. They were encouraged to continue to work on their skills so that everyone can enjoy watching them at Charles "Seed" Bland Stadium.
With a large crowd on hand for a middle school basketball game, the Bearcat Event Center was pumping with excitement as fans from the Dexter and Bernie communities were expecting good solid basketball play. As a typical rivalry game, the performances of both teams were good for an early season game and each team walking away with a victory.
In his first year as the middle school coach, Josh Dowdy brings to the Bearcat program a special spark in both coaching experience and enthusiasm for the kids. As a standout member of the DHS basketball program, Josh has followed his passion to work with young people to teach the game that was so good to him. He is a hard worker and motivates his teams to reach higher levels of accomplishments. He is assisted by Mike Vipperman. The eighth grade team displayed excellent teamwork on the court with unselfish passing and big time hustle throughout the night. Jason Jarrell lit up the goals at the BEC by dumping in 23-point on the night. He was followed by Gavin Northcutt with 8-points, Ryan Mayo and Jackson Babb each with 4-points on the night.
The eight grade team has a group of exceptional athletes. They should offer Bearcat fans many reasons to get out and support them. Of course, Jarrell has shown himself to be an all around anchor and leader among the group. The intensity and desire to perform shows on Jarrell's face. Most importantly, his concept of "team" is equally as obvious as he works with teammates Mayo, Northcutt, Babb and others.
With 7 of the 13 team members getting marks in the scorebox, the team quickly rotated the entire team into the game to get their chance to play. During these development years, game time reps will prove to be the building blocks for the a solid high school program in future years.The seventh grade team started off the night. The Mules Gavin Brown had the hot hand in the first quarter of the game dumping in 11 of the 16 points for the Mules. The Bearcats were only able to put up 6 in the first quarter, as Willis, McMullin and Jackson were able to add one field goal each.
Brown continued his dominance on the court throughout the game ending the game with 25 points on the night. Bernie ran their quick moving full court transition game to keep the young Bearcats behind throughout the contest. The Mules kept widening their lead throughout the game with a final score of 59 to 28 in favor of the Mules.The Bearcats spread out the scoring and were led by Gabe Jackson with 7, Dawson Kasting with 6 and Bo McMullin with 5 points. Nick Trout was able to tally up 4 points on the night, while Willis, Henson and Sindle added two points each.
The Bearcats will travel to Richland to take on the Rebels next Monday, October 29th. Game time is at 6:00 PM for the 7th grade team and the 8th grade game will begin immediately following that game. The teams will also travel to Bloomfield on Thursday to take on the Wildcats middle school teams.
Be certain to make your plans to attend and support these teams. You won't be sorry as both teams offer exciting basketball action.
The Bearcats completed an outstanding 23 - 9 - 2 on the 2012 season, losing a tough match in the district tournament to the Perryville Pirates. As a very talented group of lady athletes, the team exceeded preseason expectations. The Lady 'Cats only lost three regular season games to Advance, Bernie and Leopold.
"It's really an awesome honor," commented Paige Patterson. "My whole team deserved it as we faced many obstacles over the season and pulled together to have a great year."
Patterson is a junior middle hitter for the Bearcats and was a strong influence over opposing players. She is the daughter of Ronnie and Judy Patterson. Hannah Noe is also a junior and plays the position of outside hitter and setter for the team. Hannah's parents are Jonas and Jo Noe.
"It feels pretty good (to be named All-District), I'm not gonna lie" said Hannah. "If certainly proves that hard work definitely pays off."
Under first year head coach Carmen Morgan, the Bearcats were delivered into a new intensive style of volleyball play. Coach Morgan came in preaching "Attitude, Concentration and Effort", and that is exactly what she expected from the girls.
Morgan's was hired this past summer and came to DHS after a successful coaching career at Clearwater, where she led the Tigers volleyball squad to seven district championships and four state titles. Her coaching style is one that builds championships and champions as reflected by this seasons accomplishments.
"I really liked the coach a lot," noted Noe. "She knew what she was doing and brought us to new levels in our play. I'm anxious for next year and to win a district title."
Congratulations to all the Bearcat volleyball team for a successful season and these two young ladies for the award.
Fredericktown, Missouri –The first round of Class 3, District 1 playoffs began Thursday night, and the Dexter Bearcats traveled north to take on the Fredericktown Blackcats. The Blackcats came into the game as the favored #3 seed in the district and the #6 seed Bearcats were simply outmatched on this night, dropping the contest by a score of 56 to 0. With the loss, the Bearcats end the 2012 season with a record of 1-9.
With a winning 2012 season, the Blackcats finished the regular season with a record of 5 wins and 4 losses, compared to the Bearcats regular season record of 1-8. Fredericktown narrowly missed an exceptional season with losses to Park Hills (14-20 1OT), Maplewood (20-27), St. Genevieve (29-50) and North County (34-35). Nonetheless, the Bearcats entered the playoffs with hopes of overcoming injuries and the loss of several key personnel to find one more victory.
A “Black-Out” Night for fans was organized by members of the Bearcat Nation in hopes of building the enthusiasm, but a 30 degree drop in temperature 10 minutes prior to kickoff and drenching rain brought out umbrellas and raincoats, and created challenges for the players and fans alike.
In the brutal cold, the Bearcats took the opening kickoff, but were unable to produce any offense and when DJ Dowdy was sacked on third and long the Bearcats were forced to punt into a 40 mph wind.
In the Blackcats first possession on offense, Holden Bruce came across the line of scrimmage providing a huge tackle in the backfield for a 9-yard loss. With the rain pouring down, the Bearcat defense held the Blackcats on 4 downs and got the ball back around the midfield stripe.
DJ Dowdy backed up on the first play on the second series and launched a 30-yard pass in the pouring rain to Chase Young. Young came up with a great catch in the inclimate weather, but fumbled the ball as he was tackled to the ground.
The Blackcats began to grind the ball up the middle gaining good yardage against the Bearcats until a midfield fumble was recovered by Noah Kronk at 5:55 in the first quarter. The game brought back memories of Dexter's last visit to Fredericktown in 2010 when the ‘Cats took advantage of eight Blackcat turnovers to take a 30-22 title-clinching win. However, this time the Bearcats were unable to take advantage of the turnover and were forced to punt.
The Fredericktown offense went back to work pushing and driving the ball down the field. At the 3:20 mark in the 1st quarter, Fredericktown’s running back James Royer found his way into the endzone from 5 yards out for the Blackcats first score. The 2 point conversion failed, but Fredericktown to the early lead by the score of 6-0.
By the end of the 1st quarter, the Bearcats began to see the talent found in the Blackcats quarterback, Jeremy Gremminger. Gremminger marked over a 1,000 yards both rushing and passing during the 2012 season. Built for speed even in the poor field conditions, Gremminger found the endzone on a 23 yard touchdown run with 1:30 remaining in the first period. The two point conversion was good with Gremminger passing to Justin Sawyer, and the Blackcats extended thier lead to 14-0.
The kickoff by the Blackcats yielded a great return by Trevor Waldner from the 4 yard line for a gain of 26 yards. But a fumble on the center/quarterback exchange gave the ball right back to the Blackcats deep in Bearcat territory . Quickly, Fredericktown went right back to work on the ground gaining yardage in big hunks until again, Gremminger took the ball into the endzone on a 13 yard scamper for thier third consecutive score. The PAT was good, and the first quarter ended with Fredericktown on top by the score of 21-0.
The Bearcats continued to struggle in the 2nd quarter both offensively and defensively. At the 10:17 mark, the Blackcats quarterback was off again on another 40 yard run to the endzone. The PAT was again good by the Blackcats making the score 28 to 0. The Blackcats continued to pour it on in the second quarter when on the next possession, Gremminger passed to Jack Korokis for 12 yards over the right side for another touchdown. The PAT by Burks was good and the Blackcat lead was extended to 35 to 0.
The next offensive series for Dexter began a spark as Foels made a good return on the kickoff. A 17-yard pass from Dowdy to Stevens on a flag route to the left side of the offense gave the Bearcats a little momentum. An unfortunate penalty on 4th down stalled the drive for the 'Cats and again, the Bearcats handed the ball over to Fredericktown's offense.
The first half flurry of scoring was not yet over, as James Royer made a 7-yard run over the left side of his line producing the final score of the half. The extra point by Ty Burks was good and Fredericktown to a commanding lead of 42 to 0 into halftime.
The second half contained much of the same action as the Bearcats faced multiple injuries during the contest. The Blackcat offense continued to power the ball down the rainy field scoring 13 additional points on 8-yard and 29-yard runs for scores.
Winning by the final score of 56-0, the Blackcats advace to the second round of the playoffs, where they will get a second shot at defeating Park Hills Central next week. Park Hills defeated Lift For Life by the score of 49-0 in their first round game.
Statistically, the Bearcats were just unable to match up with Fredericktown on the night with the Blackcats dominating all areas of the team statistics. With over 500 yards net offense compared to the Bearcats 133-yards, Fredericktown simply dealt with the adverse elements of the night to capture the first round victory in the playoffs. The Blackcats amassed 27 first downs and an impressive 457 rushing yards in the contest.
The Blackcats had three individuals with over 100-yards rushing on the night, and they each averaged over 10 yards per carry. Their leading rusher was QB Gremminger, who had 168 yards on 15 carriers.
The Bearcat's Dowdy had 29-yards rushing, followed by Sophomore Tim Spence with 23-yards and Jonathan Foels with with 24. Dowdy also threw for 49 yards and completed 3 of this 13 passing attempts.
Defensively, Trevor Waldner and Jonathan Foels were the leading tacklers for the Bearcats with 11 and 10 respectively. The Bearcats aggressively had 8 tackles for loss of 42-yards on the night, but were unable to stop the "up the gut" runs by the Blackcat offense.
This loss for the Bearcats sadly closes the book on the 2012 football season. It only feels like yesterday that the pre-season hopes surrounded the jamboree. Knowing that it was an uphill battle with the youth of the 2012 season, little did the coaching staff know that the youthfulness and injuries to this team would present such a challenge.
No one takes their job more seriously than Head Coach Aaron Pixley. You can guarantee that the long ride home last night from Fredericktown involved the calculations of the 2013 season. The weight room will begin to ring and the focus will be drawn to the new hopes and dreams of a better season next year.
Jessica Snider SMT Writer
Tomorrow afternoon the Dexter Bearcat Football Team will hit the road as they travel to take on the Fredericktown Blackcats in a district competition game.
Coming off a loss against Malden, Dexter spent the week out on the field in order to prepare for Thursday night's game which is anticipated to be pretty tough competition.
In hopes to cheer on the Bearcats to victory, many fans have ordered that everyone come to the game wearing black. With a big fan section showing their spirit by wearing all black, we hope to "Black Out the Blackcats."
Tomorrow night's competition will be tough, but this team of Bearcats has proved throughout the season they won't go down without a fight!
We wish the best of luck to the Dexter Bearcats as they enter into District Competition against the Fredericktown Blackcats and hope many fans will join in and wear their black!
Go Bearcats!
