Cape Girardeau, MO - The Dexter Bearcat Wrestling Team traveled to Cape this weekend to take part in the prestigious 39th Annual Tiger Classic Wrestling Tournament.  Noted as one of the largest wrestling tournaments in the state of Missouri, high quality skilled athletes converge on this premier event to attempt to become the champion of the Tiger Classic.

With near 40-years of tournaments under their belts, the Tiger Classic continues be a strong determinant of what a wrestler will do the remainder of the season.  Wrestlers come from various sized schools so many times a competitor could face competition that will normally be seen on the path to the MSHAA state championships. 

Year in and year out, the Jackson High School wrestling program has always been the top contender at the event.  Since the early days of Indian Coach Paul Weber, the Indians have always put forth a strong overall team in all weight divisions.  The past two years, the Indians have had to be become satisfied with second place, losing by narrow margins last year to Northwest and in 2010 to Christian Brothers of Memphis, Tennessee.

The 'Classic" is sponsored by the Cape Girardeau High School with teams from both Memphis and St. Louis joining in on the day of competition.  The tournament hosted 17-teams this years, up from 15-teams in 2011.

The roster of teams for 2012 Tiger Classic are;  Jackson HS, Central HS, Notre Dame HS, are Christian County HS (Ky.), De Soto HS, Dexter HS, Francis Howell North HS, Hillsboro HS, Mehlville HS, Rockwood Summit HS, Rolla HS, Sikeston HS, Ste. Genevieve HS, Sullivan HS, University City HS and Union HS.

The 2-day tournament is held at the Cape Junior High School gymnasium and has multiple matches going on at the same time.  It's somewhat of a madhouse of activity, but after 38 years of practice, the organizers have certainly learned to run a wrestling tournament. 

Friday's competition is a round robin of matches or pool play that allow athletes to qualify for second day of the tournament based upon their wins and losses. 

Bearcat wrestlers Dylan Bazarian (160#), Logan Quertermous (182#), Ethan Stevens (145#), Trevor Waldner (138#) and Steven Parks (113#) were all were able to advance to Saturday's tournament.  Both Trevor Waldner and Dylan Bazarian gave strong performances to captured 3 wins with no losses on Friday.

The 'Cats were only able to advance Waldner and Stevens to the medal rounds in the competition on Saturday.  Trevor Waldner ended the tournament with a record of 5 -1 and was the 2nd Place medal winner in the 138 pound weight class.  Cody Stevens posted a record of 3-4 for the tournament and was the 6th place medalist in the 145 pound weight division.

Bloomfield, Missouri - The brackets have been announced today for the 56th Annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament today with the Kennett Indians receiving the number one seed, followed by the Bernie Mules in the second seed position. 

A tournament filled with many local teams, winning the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament has always been a high mark for area teams.  The games are normally The tournament is a long term tradition for the area with many sports fans planning to donate their Christmas vacation to watching all the games. 

First round action will get underway on Wednesday, December 25th with the Kennett Indians taking on the Richland Rebels.  Games will continue four days with the conclusion of the tournament on Saturday, December 29th.

You can get the full brackets for the tournament by clicking HERE!

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Brosley MO - Sometimes when the number 1 seed in a tournament plays the number 16 seed the favorite overlooks the underdog and gets "trapped" with a loss.  Consider the Dexter Lady Cats not one of those trapped teams.

The Lady Cats scored early and often opening up a 39-4 first quarter lead and a 63 -11 halftime lead on route to a 99-15 first round victory.

The Cats, without the services of junior Paige Patterson due to sickness, forced 17 first quarter turnovers and Hannah Noe scored 8 and Brittany Harris 7,along with Katelynn Fraziers two to give the Cats a 17-2 lead.  Mollie Whitehead (12 points on the morning) then scored 6 straight and Ericka Cobb had five to push the lead.  Alison Jarrell then got in on the fun with 5 points and the Lady Cats finished the first quarter on a roll.

The onslaught continued in the second quarter as Noe, Jarrell and MaKayla Waldner had baskets and three's from Jarrell and Dakota Reynolds (her first of three on the day) extended the Lady Cat lead. Harris (11 points)  had two more baskets  and the Cats had their impressive halftime lead.

With a running clock the entire second half, the varsity came out and scored 10 straight points off of steals and layups.  Four minutes into the quarter Coach Chad Allen brought in his JV squad.  This group played well and each scored during their time in the game.  Reynolds had two more threes and a couple of regular baskets, Melanie McKuin had 5 points and Katie Reiker, Shayna Bess and Karoline Kiersey each had their first varsity points of the season with Bess leading that group of three with 6 points.

With the victory the Lady Cats advance to the second round of the Twin Rivers Christmas tournament and will play either Charleston or Doniphan at 6:30 on Monday the 17th.

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By A Big Time Bernie Mules Fan!

Bell City, Missouri - The Bernie Mules continued their winning ways last night as they took on Bell City High School.  With a 2012-13 season record of 7 - 0, the Mules dominated the contest to defeat the Cubs by a score of 87 to 32. 

“We are starting to improve in some areas," commented Mules Head Coach, Brad Botsch.

David Baker led the scoring surge by the Mules with 9-points in the first quarter.  Troy Kirkpatrick had a hot hand at the charity strip, sinking all three of his free throws and one field goal in the opening quarter.  Both Sam Turner and Jake Wagner added a three-pointer each to give the Mules a 26 to 12 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Joey Walker took the scoring lead for the team in the 2nd quarter with 7-points.  The Mules delivered a balanced scoring run throughout the quarter, while their defense tightened on Bell City.  Bell City was only able to find 7-points of their own during the 2nd quarter, making the halftime score 49 to 19.

The second half was much the same offensive attack by the Mules as the added an additional 28-points.  The Cubs were just unable to deal with the quickness and aggressive defense offered during the contest.  B. J. Jennings put on his three-point shooting hand in the third quarter posting 9-points in his three made baskets. 

"We have been repetitively drilling decision making fundamentals in practice, and I felt it carried over into our play tonight," said Coach Botsch.  "Our kids are working very hard, and if they’ll remain coachable, I think we’ll continue to improve."

Overall, the Bernie Mules were very evenly spread across the team offensively.  David Baker was the leading scorer with 15-points, followed by teammates Troy Kirkpatrick (14-points) and Joey Walker (11-points).  B. J. Jennings added his 9-points from 3-point land in the third quarter, while Jake Wagner, David Baker, Sam Turner and J. R. Pregel each had strong nights on the scoreboard with 8 and/or 7-points each

"We have so many kids that can contribute, and it’s nice to have that many competitive kids at our disposal," added Botsch.

The Junior Varsity team defeated Bell City by a score of 64 to 42.  Bernie Mules Ellenburg highlighted the night with a season high of 40-points during the contest, followed by Sparks with 15-points.

Bernie will be back in action against the Twin Rivers Royals next Tuesday at Twin Rivers High School. 

Dexter, Missouri - The Dexter Bearcats were able to capture their first win of the 2012-13 basketball season Friday night as they defeated the Richland Rebels at home by a score of 73 to 40. 

After struggling offensively in the opening games this year against the strong opponents of Charleston (27-70), Sikeston (23-55) and Jackson (23-55), the Bearcats were able to find strong performances by senior Chase Young and junior D. J. Dowdy to combine for 43-points.  Young was the leading scorer on the night with 22-points and Dowdy followed with 21-points.

As an injured and young team, the 'Cats have faced this season by putting together the pieces of a frazzled puzzle.  Tonight was a well deserved victory for their hard work and hope that the season will improve as they move forward.

Not only were the 'Cats facing a hustling Richland Rebels team, but the Rebels are anchored by a 6' 11" center, Richard Forshee.  Forshee was a powerful postman around the basket most of the night, but the Bearcats were able to battle the size with aggressive athleticism.

The Bearcats jumped out to a 14 to 11 first quarter lead.  The 'Cats broadened their lead to eleven points by scoring 25-points in the second quarter, compared to only 17-points by the Rebels.  Chase Young added 5 of 6 free throws attempted to help his team.

Still in reach of the Bearcats, the second half was expected to be a true battle.  But halftime adjustment found Brad Potts and other 'Cats dominating the boards and taking away the inside game of the Rebels.  Richland was only able to post 9-points in the third quarter, allowing the Bearcats to open up a lead of 62 to 37 prior to the beginning of the final quarter.

The Bearcats held strong in the fourth quarter as Dexter added an additional 11-points.  The Bearcats eased into their first varsity win on the season defeating the Rebels by final score of 73 to 40. 

Besides Young and Dowdy, Brad Potts delivered 12-points on the night.  Additional points and excellent play was also given by Jordan Miller with 6-points, Ryan Joyner and Austin Aldridge with 4-points and Austin Richards and Nick Noble chipped in 2-points.

The junior varsity was given a different format on the evening with only two quarters being played.  The Bearcats were able to win the contest by a score of 31 to 22.

Leading scorers at the JV level were Blake Horton with 9-points, Chandler Young with 8-points and Austin Chesser with 6-points.  Ethan Flowers added 4-points on the night and Jacob Pedigo and Jacob Murdock each scored 2-points.

The Bearcats will catch a break in the action until the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament begins on December 26th.  Their next regular season game will be against the Woodland Cardinals on January 4th at the Bearcat Event Center in Dexter.