Pirates pound out win over Bearcats

Jerry Jarrell photo Bearcats quarterback Ben Mills is hit by Morris Williams (No. 81) as he attempts to deliver a pass during Friday night's, 40-20, win by the Gosnell, Ark., Pirates at Charles Bland Stadium in Dexter. [Click to enlarge]

Daily Statesman Sports Editor

Can one play change the outcome of a football game? You better believe it can.

Jerry Jarrell photo Dexter sohomore Josh Sifford (No. 21) rambles for some of his 68 yards and two touchdowns during Friday's, 40-20, home loss to the Gosnell, Ark., Pirates. [Click to enlarge]

Dexter took the opening kickoff against Gosenll, Ark., and was putting together a spirited drive that appeared destined for the end zone when the Pirates Cody Mace picked off a Ben Mills pass at the five yard line and raced 95-yards to score. After that momentum-stealing play, Dexter struggled in all aspects of the game as the Pirates pounded out a punishing, 40-20, decision over the Bearcats Friday night at Charles Bland Stadium.

"We came out on fire," Dexter coach Aaron Pixley said after the game. "We weren't running the ball real well there early, but we were passing it down the field, but just one mistake can't stop you from playing football. I felt like that one mistake offensively (the interception) kind of got in our offense's heads or whatever, but we just quit executing at that point. It just seemed like Gosnell kept getting more and more momentum and kept getting stronger. You've got to tip your hat to them, they played a great first half and we didn't."

Gosnell scored on all five of its first half possessions, using six touchdowns to put 40 points on the board. Dexter had five first-half turnovers, four of which led to Pirate touchdowns. Mills (11-of-21 for 139 yards) threw four interceptions in the first half that set up three of the Pirates' scores, and Seth McBride (12 carries for 32 yards) fumbled once that led to Gosnell's sixth TD of the opening half. Mills only had five interceptions all of last season and has already matched that total in Dexter's first two games this year.

Jerry Jarrell photo Dexter's Caleb Stanley pulls down a pass near the sideline during action Friday night at Charles Bland Stadium. The Bearcats dropped a, 40-20, decision to the Pirates of Gosnell, Ark., in their first home game of the season. [Click to enlarge]

"No it's not," Pixley stated when asked about his quarterback's uncharacteristic performance. "He's no different from anyone else. He's not going to be perfect all the time, no football player is. He's going to correct that, I guarantee you, because he's a good football player. I think he was trying to force some things, trying to make plays, and a lot of times you throw interceptions and whenever your offense is reeling, sometimes your players will try to force it and that's what happened. So, he's going to correct it and he'll be better next time."

Gosnell's Double Winged-T offense again proved to much for Dexter's defense, as the 'Cats slipped to a 1-5 series record against the Pirates. Jevon Smith rushed for 139 yards on 13 attempts (none for a loss) and scored twice, the long coming on a 45-yard dash in the second period to push Gosnell out front, 34-0.

Dexter could only net 61 yards of offense in the first half as the Pirates poured it on to establish the outcome of the game early. Dexter finished with 209 yards of offense (70 on the ground and 139 in the air), while Gosnell rolled up 324, 216 on the ground and a surprising 108 through the air.

"Really the open field tackling wasn't the problem, it was inside all that mass of bodies," Pixley commented, referring to how Gosnell packs all its players in a tight formation and utilizes misdirection. "Finding the football is difficult against them. You really have to blow their offensive line up to stop them. We did that at times but we didn't do it enough.

"I felt like, really, some of our defensive linemen that needed to get more aggressive got more aggressive as the game went on and that's a good positive thing," he continued. "But we were over pursuing, our linebackers were over pursuing, because they (Gosnell) were great cut back runners. They would pitch, run to a certain hole, then the backs would cut back early, and we're flying' to that hole, then our backside pursuit had over pursued and boom.

"They are great at getting in third down situations and getting first downs," Pixley added. "A couple of times we had them third and nine and third and eight and both times they got a 10-yard run and a 12-yard run. You've got to stop that. And we didn't do a very good job of stopping that.

"We lost our composure in the first half, and that's very non-typical of a Dexter Bearcats team, but at the same time we got it together at half-time, came out and kept our cool, albeit, we played against some of there number two's, but we kept our cool and we just tried to execute from that point on."

Dexter did right the ship somewhat in the second half, scoring on its first possession of the third quarter after holding Gosnell to a three-and-out series.

Mills connected with Ryan Windham for a 27-yard strike and Dylan Acevado's PAT was no good, but the 40-6 score did take the 35-point mercy clock lead out of play.

Dexter crossed the goal line again with 5:14 to play when Josh Sifford scored from one-yard out. The PAT was good and Dexter trailed 40-13.

Sifford, who finished with 66 yards on 13 carries, exploded around the corner for 30-yards and the six points with just 25 second remaining and the successful PAT set he final score at 40-20.

Defensively, Hunter Bruce led the Bearcats with 12 tackles, five solo. Aaron Mace had six solo tackles and 11 total, while Corbin Matthews was charted with nine tackles, one for a loss.

The Bearcats will next be in action Friday when they will travel to Sikeston to resume their rivalry with the Bulldogs, who improved to 1-1 on the season with a 48-6 win over Charleston Friday night.