Sikeston, Missouri – The Dexter varsity wrestling team finished fifth at the SEMO Conference Wrestling Tournament on Saturday. Ethan Steven improved his record 26 – 0 with a victory over Collin Huitt of Farmington in the championship of the 170 lb weight class.
“Ethan Stevens won the 170-pound weight class by medical forfeit after the boy hurt his knee, but it counted as a win,” commented Dexter’s head wrestling coach Jason Sneed. “Ethan is perfect on the season with a record of 26-0."
Other top finishers for Dexter were Seth Rush who placed 2nd in the 145-pound weight class. Jackson Indian Michah Collier beat Rush by fall in the championship.
Storm Massey placed 3rd in the 152 lb weight class.
Dylan Bazarian placed 3rd in the 160 lb weight class and Seth Harris placed 4th in the 106 lb weight class.
“We wrestled pretty well,” stated Sneed. “It was a tough tournament and I felt like we competed up and down the line-up. Five of our eleven wrestlers earned medals in the top 4 and ten of eleven finished 6th or better.”
Dexter tallied 179 points with Jackson winning the championship with 332 points. Farmington finished second with 291 points and Ste. Genevieve placed third with 253.5 points. Sikeston came in just ahead of Dexter with 208 points.
SEMO CONFERENCE RESULTS:
106-Seth Harris (26-10) placed 4th and scored 19.00 team points.132-Brandon Twomey (22-16) placed 6th and scored 10.00 team points.
138-James Mullins (12-7) placed 6th and scored 10.00 team points.
145-Seth Rush (18-10) placed 2nd and scored 27.oo team points.
152-Storm Massey (29-7) placed 3rd and scored 19.00 team points.
160-Dylan Bazarian (22-4) placed 3rd and scored 19.00 team points.
170-Ethan Steven (26-0) placed 1st and scored 32.00 team points.
182-Michael Hurst (23-7) placed 6th and scored 10.00 team points.
195-Brandon Quertermous (15-11) placed 10th and scored 6.00 team points.
220-Jared Deal (27-9) placed 5th and scored 18.00 team points.
285-Brandon Wick (20-17) placed 5th and scored 10.00 team points.
“We will need to continue to get better as we prepare for Districts on February 13th and 14th,” continued Sneed.
Dexter will now compete on Thursday in Jackson against the Poplar Bluff Mules and the Jackson Indians with a 5:00 p.m. start time.
Puxico, Missouri – The Bernie Mules varsity boys basketball team improved their record on the road Friday evening 15-2 by defeated the Puxico Indians 64 – 54.
“It was a grind tonight, but we found a way to get the ‘W’,” stated Bernie’s coach Brad Botsch. “Puxico is always a tough place to play, and we dug just deep enough to get out of there with a win.”
Caleb Ellenburg keeps pounding it out for the Mules recording another game-high 26 points including one trey.
“I thought Ellenburg stepped up his play tonight for us and we need him to continue to be a force for us,” Botsch stated. “If we can ever get everyone having a good night on the same night we could really be tough. Our seniors realize there isn’t a lot of time left in their careers here and they need to start feeling that urgency to take the next step in effort and coachability.“We have to have the attitude of never being satisfied and keep pushing forward. I look forward to seeing what we can do in the county tournament next week,” continued Botsch. “We have played most of these teams at least once and I am anxious to see how our kids play in Round 2.”
Brandon Sparks recorded 23 points for Bernie hitting four 3-pointers.
Puxico’s leading athlete was Zack Tucker who tallied 24 points including a couple of 3-pointers. Seth Luttrell added 18 points.
Bernie and Puxico both begin play on Monday evening at the 2015 SCAA varsity boys basketball tournament. Top-seeded Bernie will play #8 Richland at 6:30 p.m. and #6 seed Puxico Indians play the #3 Dexter Bearcats at 8:00 p.m.
Final score Bernie 64, Puxico 54
Bernie 18 9 19 18 - 64
Puxico 18 7 14 16 - 54
Bernie (64) – Matt Vernon 9, Brandon Sparks 23, Caleb Ellenburg 26, Devin Tramell 3, Gavin Smith 3, FG 20, FT 17/27, F 13. (3-pointers: Brandon Sparks 4, Matt Vernon 1, Caleb Ellenburg 1, Devin Trammell 1. Fouled Out: Trammell).
Puxico (54) – Levi Woods 4, Chris Siler 4, Dalton King 2, Zach McCoy 2, Seth Luttrell 18, Zach Tucker 24. FG 19, FT 14/15, F 18. (3-pointers: Luttrell 2, Fouled Out: Corey Pratt).
Cape Girardeau, Missouri – Dexter Head Football Coach Justin Peden along with other DHS coaches Eric boles, Chris Bolin, Brice Beck and Greg Lummukka attended a 3Dimensional Seminar hosted by Wes Simmons.
Simmons is a certified 3-D trainer for the Midwest region. He led the seminar about three-dimensional coaching, which was attended by about 65 coaches from the southeast Missouri region on Friday, Jan. 16, in the Kay Porter Theater.
"Three dimensional coaching is a great way to help us as coaches come to a better understanding of how to communicate with players and get the most out of them," commented head football coach Justin Peden. "It's not only about coaching the body, it's about the heart and mind as well. If you have all three aspects then you know you will be getting the most out of that young person."
3-D coaching, a concept developed by Dr. Jeff Duke of the University of Central Florida, combines fundamentals, psychology and heart into developing athletes. Sponsored by the R-I Athletic Department, Bill Ray - Southeast Missouri Area Rep for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, was instrumental in bringing the presenter to Poplar Bluff, as Simmons serves the sports ministry in Northwest Missouri.
"Coaches are the single greatest authoritative person in a child’s' life," Simmons stated.
Football games may only be played on the field during the fall, but the coaching staff at Dexter Public Schools work year round to teach our athletes and we appreciate all the effort by these coaches. Even off the playing field, coaches can be good mentors in the community and great advisers, offering perspectives on non-sports problems.
"One of the reasons anyone gets into coaching is to make a difference in the lives of young people. If not you are in the wrong line of work," continued Peden. "Of the 53,000,000 high school athletes in America today 72% come from a one parent home. It is our job as coaches to be positive influences on the lives of every player we come in to contact with."
New Madrid, Missouri – The Dexter Bearcats ended their 3-game winning streak when the New Madrid County Central Eagles flew away with the win Friday night in New Madrid.
“Our goal was to come out with a lot of energy, playing our style,” NMCC head basketball coach Travis Day said. “I knew their defense was going to pack it in the paint on Willie. We told our shooters to have your hands and feet ready and if you are wide open let it fly.”
NMCC definitely let it fly in the first half hitting 8 three-pointers to secure a comfortable half-time lead 46 – 20.
Willie Jimerson paced the Eagles with a team-high 19 points including one 3-pointer. Deon Jenkins tallied 12 points and Vontre Jones finished with 11 points.
Drew Palmer hit three treys adding nine for the Eagles. Mikael Walker added 9 points. Kiel Causey and Javarcus Word both scored 8 points.
“That’s kind of our style,” continued Day. “Willie is our head guy, but we usually have a lot of guys contribute night-in and night-out. We are good about sharing the ball and our style allows for a lot of people to get their hands on the ball.
Dexter put together a better second half scoring 7 three-pointers and outscoring NMCC by 11 points, but it was not enough to overcome the first half deficit.
“I was very proud of how the kids battled back in the second half,” stated Dexter head basketball coach Josh Dowdy. “Real proud. It would have been easy to quit and we did not do that tonight. Tyler Heil came in and gave us some big minutes. I have been coaching for 10 years and have been around quite a few kids and there is not a better teammate than that young man. His actions on the court are the epitome of a great teammate. I am just glad he had a chance to shine and he did with some big block-outs, a charge, and a stickback.”
Jason Jarrell tallied a team-high 19 points including one 3-pointer.
Austin Chesser added 17 more along with hitting two treys.
Ethan Flowers finished with 16 points including four 3-pointers.
Peyton Pollock hit one trey and finished with 8 points.
“Our goal was to make them shoot over the top of us. Unfortunately, they were eight of eleven behind the arc in the first half. I do wish we would have contested a little bit more, but you have to pick your poison against a team like NMCC,” continued Dowdy. “If you go out and guard them they are more than capable of getting to the rim.”
New Madrid County Central ranked #4 in Class 3 improved their record to 17-2 with the victory over Dexter.
“We were also able to run a few things offensively in the second half that I feel will make us better down the stretch,” stated Dowdy. “I believe it is worth noting the way Coach Day handled the game. There were some times where he could have kept his foot on the gas and he didn’t. That shows a lot about his character and New Madrid County Central as a whole.”
Dexter will now face Puxico in the SCAA Tournament on Monday at 8:00 p.m. They are ranked #3 with Puxico ranked #6. Games will be played at Bloomfield.
Final Score New Madrid 83, Dexter 68
NMCC 23 23 20 17 - 83
Dexter 6 14 21 27 - 68
NMCC (83) – Willie Jimerson 19, Mikael Walker 9, Kiel Causey 8, Javarcus Word 8, Chris Farr 3, Drew Palmer 9, Asten Newsom 4, Vontre Jones 11, Deon Jenkins 12. FG 33, FT 9/15, F 16. (3-pointers: Kiel Causey 2, Javarcus Word 2, Drew Palmer 3, Willie Jimerson 1. Fouled Out: None.)
Dexter (68) – Jason Jarrell 19, Peyton Pollock 8, Jacob Pedigo 4, Austin Chesser 17, Ethan Flowers 16, Tyler Heil 2, Matt Sims 2. FG 27, FT 6/9, F 12. (3-pointers: Ethan Flowers 4, Austin Chesser 2, Peyton Pollock 1, Jason Jarrell 1. Fouled Out: None)
Bloomfield, Missouri – The SCAA varsity and junior varsity boys basketball tournaments begin Monday, January 26, 2015 and the seedings have been released.
Bernie Varsity Mules basketball team earned the #1 seed. The Bloomfield Wildcats earned the #1 seed in junior varsity action.
Bernie Mules will play the Richland Rebels (ranked #8) at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, January 26th in the Bloomfield gym.
At 8:00 p.m. the #3 ranked Dexter Bearcats will play #6 ranked Puxico Indians.
On Tuesday the varsity action resumes with #2 Woodland taking on #7 Bell City at 6:30 and #4 Advance playing #5 Bloomfield at 8:00 p.m.
In junior varsity match-ups it’s the #3 Bernie JV Mules playing #6 Puxico JV Indians at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, January 26th. The Woodland JV Cardinals ranked #4 will play #5 Advance at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 27th.
Both Dexter JV seeded #2 and Bloomfield JV seeded #1 have a bye in the quarterfinal action.
The varsity championship will be Friday, January 30th at 8:30 p.m. with the junior varsity championship at 7:00 p.m.
