Dexter, MO - Dexter High School held their annual Fall Sports Awards Ceremony on Monday, November 8th in the DHS Auditorium. Several awards were given as well as First Time Letters "D" were awarded. A special honor to retiring Coach Aaron Pixley and the Charles Bland Award was also presented.
Awards were presented to each Fall Sport. Up first was Coach Starla Pulley with the Volleyball Awards.
Volleyball
The Lady Bearcats finished 19-10-1, including winning the Stoddard County Athletic Association (SCAA) Tournament Championship.
Offensive Player of the Year: Carly Long
Defensive Player of the Year: Magi McBride
Assists Leader: Dulcie Pullen
Most Valuable Teammate: Andie Kruse.
Girls Tennis
Coach Kristi Boles, trying not to shed a few tears, gave out four awards. She also said that she had never seen so many fans in attendance at tennis before. She was even nervous at a couple of matches with the number of fans who showed up to support her girls.
The Lady Cats went 8-10, and the season was highlighted by Julianna Rivera and Maci Comfort’s doubles second-place finish in the Kennett Invitational.
Highest Win Percentage in Singles: Maci Comfort. She went 7-7 while playing the No. 2 position.
Best Win Percentage in Doubles: Natalie Bolin. She went 11-12.
Most Valuable Teammate: Julianna Rivera on varsity and Grace Marvel on Junior Varsity.
Cross Country
The Bearcats sent five athletes to the MSHSAA State Cross Country Meet.
Coach James Deberry presented the awards.
Female Runner of the Year: Gabby Brown. She finished 19th place at state bringing home an All-State Medal.
Male Runner of the Year: Ben Dowdy.
Cheerleading
Coach Lindsay Woods announced that Rachel Lin earned the Football Cheerleading Award which is voted on by her teammates.
Football
Retiring Coach Aaron Pixley recognized the football team for their accomplishments and announced four awards which were selected by the players.
The Bearcats finished the 2021 season 6-5 and credited his 14 seniors for the program's great success this year.
"I am truly honored to go out with this group of young men," stated Pixley.
Most Valuable Player: Josh Alday
Most Valuable Defender: Lucas Alday
Most Valuable Lineman: Frank Wirz
After the awards in an interview with Pixley, "We went from two years ago winning one game, last year winning three games, and this year six games. So It's headed in the right direction.
Pixley will continue to work with his players as the school’s weightlifting coach and the assistant wrestling coach in preparation for handing over the program to a new coach in 2022.
Dexter High School athletes who won awards at the fall sports program Monday night are:
(front row, from left) Magi McBride, Dulcie Pullen, Andie Kruse, Camden Riley, Maci Comfort, Julianna Rivera, Natalie Bolin, and Rachel Lin
(back row, from left) Ben Dowdy, Josh Alday, Carly Long, Lucas Alday and Frank Wirz.
Columbia, MO - Dexter senior Gabby Brown finished 19th and earned an all-state medal from the MSHSAA Class 3 Cross Country Championship held on Saturday, November 6, 2021 in Columbia at Gans Creek Cross Country Course.
She finished in 19 minutes 59.1 seconds.
Also in Stoddard County richland senior Alexia Kemp took 21st in 21:40.9 in Class 1 Girls Cross Country.
Bell City junior Kennett Rampley finished 25th in 17:52.9 in Class 1 Boys Cross Country.
The top 25 in the state receive a medal.
The Bloomfield Cross Country team in Class 2 Boys finished 10th out of 16 teams.
Freshman Ben Dowdy was Dexter’s top finisher, placing 64th in 17:53.9. Junior Clayton Bell was 95th in 18:20.5 and freshman Cameron Bell was 117th in 18:38.4.
Dexter sophomore Abbie Lloyd finished 102nd in 22:27.7
Pictured: Dexter senior Gabby Brown wears the all-state medal she won for placing 19th in the MSHSAA Class 3 Cross County Championships on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021, at Columbia. (Photo courtesy of James Deberry)
Dexter, MO - On October 29, 2021 Coach Aaron Pixley stepped onto Charles Bland Stadium High School Football Field for the very last time under the Friday night lights. He will have at least one more opportunity to coach on Friday, November 4th when the Dexter Bearcats travel to Kennett in a District semifinal game.
Coach Pixley graduated from Dexter High School in 1988. He was hired in 2000 to be the weightlifting coach and head football coach.
In his first stint at Dexter High School he was the "All-Time Wins" leader over 13 seasons as head coach. From 2000 to 2012 Pixley accumulated a 78-58 record.
In his first year as the Dexter Head Coach, Pixley had a team shirt that stated his philosophy toward the game of football, and obviously life. The slogan read "Never Accept Mediocrity".
His thirteen seasons as the gridiron master has provided our community many exciting Friday nights. His record tells the story with 78 wins which is a record for any head football coach at DHS. His two best seasons were in 2002 in his third year as the head coach the Bearcats had a season of 8-3 and then in 2010 was perhaps his most memorable year with a record of 8-5 and playing in the Class 3 State Quarterfinals.
In addition, the community has been able to experience the joys of victory with three titles as SEMO Conference Champions, 2002, 2005 and 2011. The Bearcats won four District Playoffs, 2002, 2005, 2010 and 2011, with 2010 making it to the State Quarterfinal.
After 4 years at Kennett High School he came back home to finish his career.
He is passionate about winning football games, but that was not his ultimate goal. Pixley always put turning his players into great upstanding men above all and puts character above winning a football game.
Coach will end his career with a few titles. The title he is most proud of is the Longest Bearcat Football Coach of All-Time at Dexter High School. He will close out his football career of 17 years with the Bearcats at the end of the 2021 season and a total of 21 years of football coaching.
A former player said, "You are a man of great character, you are humble, you are genuine and sometimes you were intimidating. You were never just a coach, you were so much more."
We hope you kick back and enjoy that pool and make lots of memories with your other favorite title, being "Pop Pop".
A game ball signed by the Class of 2001 was presented at the 50 yard line.
Dexter, MO - On October 29, 2021 Coach James Sneed stepped onto Charles Bland Stadium High School Football Field for the very last time under the Friday night lights. He served as Assistant Football Coach for 19 years beginning in 2002.
Sneed also served in the U.S. Army until returning to Dexter in 1997. He was hired as a Technology Assistant in 2001 at Dexter Public Schools.
He has been known to do all the behind the scenes work to make the football program successful. If you needed something taken care of he was always there to make sure it was done.
A former athlete said of Sneed, "Coach Sneed was the whole reason I continued to play football in high school. He was caring, supportive, tough, and respectful. He truly cares about each and every students and athlete. He was the best role model I had at Dexter High School."
A quote that later became known as a "Sneedism" is "if you are walking you are wrong and you are moving like pond water. No one will ever accuse Mr. Sneed of walking like pond water at Dexter High School.
Everyone can attest to this as you are everywhere doing every task with diligence and we can't thank you enough for your years of service. You will be missed!
Coach Sneed received a signed football. He will have the opportunity to be assistant coach at least one more game when the Dexter Bearcats travel to Kennett on Friday, November 5th in a District semifinal game. Kick-off at 7 p.m.
Young hunters harvest 15,608 deer during early youth portion
Top counties include Osage, Franklin, and Howell.
Preliminary data from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) shows that young hunters ages 6 through 15 harvested 15,608 deer during Missouri’s early youth portion of the 2021 deer hunting season, Oct. 30-31. Top counties were Osage with youth hunters harvesting 359 deer, Franklin with 329, and Howell with 310. Youth hunters harvested 15,854 deer during last year’s early youth portion.
View additional harvest numbers for the 2021 early youth portion at Telecheck Harvest Numbers (mo.gov).
“Weather can have a big impact on harvest totals during our shorter season portions,” said MDC Cervid Program Supervisor Jason Isabelle. “Thankfully, the rain we experienced across much of the state late last week moved out just in time for our youth hunters to have some great conditions over the weekend.”
Missouri’s deer archery season continues through Nov. 12 and resumes Nov. 24 through Jan. 15, 2022. The November portion of firearms deer season runs Nov. 13-23 followed by the late youth portion Nov. 26-28. The antlerless portion of firearms deer season runs Dec. 4-12 followed by the alternative methods portion Dec. 25 through Jan. 4, 2022.
Read more information on deer hunting from MDC’s 2021 Fall Deer & Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet, available where hunting permits are sold and online at https://short.mdc.mo.gov/Zyy
Jase Crumley is the son of Barry and Kim Crumley.
