'Cats play their way into playoffs

Jerry Jarrell photo Dexter fullback Aaron Mace (No. 35) tries to pull away from a host of Kennett tacklers for extra yards during the Bearcats' 35-8 win on the road Thursday night.

It was the first road win of the season for the Bearcats who have turned an 0-4 start into a 5-5 campaign and a chance to play again.

Dexter's first playoff game will be on the road Wednesday against the District 1 champs, undefeated and No. 1 ranked Potosi.

"I feel good about it," Dexter coach Aaron Pixley said of his team's efforts against the Indians. "I'm very proud of the kids, obviously. I'm not proud that we started off 0-4. I am proud of the fact that our kids stuck with it and didn't give up -- a lot of teams would give up at that point -- our kids didn't and I think they have played progressively better.

" I know we had a hick-up and did not play well against New Madrid, but most of that is them," Pixley continued. "They are very good. But at the same time for them to not give up and come back and play the type of football they are now is just a testament to them and how tough they are."

Dexter's defense held Kennett to zero yards in the first half and just 45 until late in the fourth quarter when quarterback Adam Grantham hooked up with Jimmy Gooden for a 64-yard catch and run touchdown that capped a 77-yard drive against the Bearcats' second unit. Kennett finished with 122 yards of total offense, 145 through the air and -23 on the ground. Jake Cox's 78-yard interception return late in the third quarter was the play-of-the-game for the Bearcats' defense and pushed the lead to 32-0.

"That's amazing," Pixley said when told about his team holding Kennett to 0 yards in the first half. "But they (the defense) played well. I tell you what; they really played well. We got off the ball well and I think we dominated the line of scrimmage and that's key. We don't win if we don't win the line of scrimmage. I feel like my defensive line dominated the line of scrimmage and we did a good job against the run. Whenever they got in certain formations I felt like we recognized it, changed our defense to what we wanted to run against it, and they got right in it and ran it. It was a really good job the first half.

"The third quarter was a little tricky," Pixley noted referring to a 15-play Kennett drive. "We had people in at the right spots, we've just got to tackle. We bent a little in the third quarter, but we didn't break. They scored one against our younger kids. But I'm very proud of the defense and the offense tonight."

While the defense was controlling the game, Dexter's Ben Mills was putting in a workman like 6-of-12 passing effort. The senior quarterback threw for 91 yards and two touchdowns to Ryan Windham that covered 9 and 13 yards. The Bearcats added 135 yards on the ground that included touchdown runs of 6-yards by Shawn Slavings and 5-yards by Joshua Overall. Dylan Acevado put the final Dexter points on the board with a 35-yard field goal into the wind late in the fourth quarter.

Overall finished with a team-high 85 yards on eight carriers, with a long of 59. The sophomore was called on more than normal when starter Wesley McCollough aggravated an ankle injury he has been nursing for several weeks.

"We were getting a lot of three and four yard runs, and that's not bad on a night like this," Pixley noted. "We were wanting to move the sticks and then we popped a few. And that's what you get when you continue to get those three and four yarders. Every now and then one of them is going to pop and that's what happened.

"We would like for Wes McCollough to be healthlier, but his ankle got hit early in the game," he added. "He was looking good in pregame and practice this week, but he got hit on his ankle early in the game and he just couldn't push off of it, so we had to go with some younger kids and I feel like they played well."

Kennett was looking to make the playoffs for the first time since 1986 with a 8-point or more win over Dexter. Kennett remains winless against Pixley-coached Dexter teams, and the loss brings the Indians' season to a close at 3-7, 0-3 in district games.

"Dexter did a great job of preparing, but they didn't do anything that we didn't practice for," first-year Kennett coach Kenneth Riedinger commented. "We just didn't do a real good job of executing our game plan defensively.

"At the end of the day, we had a chance to do something -- we just didn't get it done," Riedinger continued. "The important thing is to remember that we're building something here, starting from the ground up and changing attitudes. I was proud of our kids. They jumped on us early, but we continued to fight -- we just didn't execute.

"Anytime you're building, you've got to play some young kids and we do get a bunch of those kids back. We feel like they're battle-tested now and better because of it."

For Dexter it's back to the practice field Friday to prepare for Wednesday's playoff game.

"I'm pretty sure we're going to Potosi," Pixley said after the game. "I believe two goes to one. That's only fair I would think.

"I know they have them highly ranked and they are very, very good. We've seen a little of them and they are the real deal. So we're going to have to play extremely well. We're going to have to not make many mistakes and just go out there and play as hard as we can and see what happens."

Potosi completed an undefeated 10-0 season with a 20-6 win over Park Hills Central Thursday night.