Bourbon, Trojans end season for Bearcats

Dexter quarterback Ben Mills hits the ground hard after being tripped up by Potosi's Hunter Belfield (No. 88)

Bourbon turned his seven touches into 252 yards and three touchdown, all in the first half, as Potosi dominated Dexter in a 56-20 win.

Bourbon wasn't the only weapon in Potosi's arsenal as three other Trojans scored in the first half. Quarterback Matt Marler threw 20-yard touchdown passes to Dylan Wyrick and Tanner Glore, Wyrick added a 14-yard rushing touchdown and Garth Rogers ran in a fake field goal attempt as Potosi took a commanding 49-0 lead into half-time.

Jerry Jarrell photo Potosi's Brandon Bourbon (No. 25) races through a hole in the Bearcats' defense.

The speedy Bourbon got six yards on the first play of the game then took a hand-off on the second play, turned the corner on the Bearcats defense and found a different gear as he raced down the sideline for a 52-yard touchdown. He later added touchdown runs of 47 and 72 yards before sitting out the second half.

Potosi (11-0) rolled up 507 yards of total offense, 458 on the ground while Marler finished 3-of-6 for 49 yards and two scores. Dexter could only manage 215 yards of total offense, most of that coming through the air as Ben Mills wrapped up his 3-year career as the Bearcats' starting quarterback hitting 12-of-31 passes for 204 yards and three touchdowns.

"The fullback really killed us tonight," Dexter coach Aaron Pixley said after the game. "They (Potosi) are complete right now. That quarterback throws a real good ball. He has a good arm, great technique and they have receivers that can catch it. If you don't stop their run, they're not going to throw it very much. Why would you when you have skill like that? We didn't stop it. They didn't have to throw it very often and that's why the score was the way it was."

Mace and Benjamin Rodgers (No. 58) bring down Dylan Wyrick (No. 28) during MSHSAA regional playoff action Wednesday at Potosi. The Trojans defeated Dexter, 56-20.

Dexter couldn't have gotten off to a worse start. After the quick score by Bourbon, Dexter was forced to punt on a fourth-and-two from their own 31 but a high snap from center led to a loss of 17 yards and set the Trojans up at the Bearcats' 14. Wyrick took a hand-off from Marler on the Trojans' first play and ran up the middle for the score. Wyrick added a 2-point run and in less than three minutes of play, Potosi was on top, 14-0.

"We got hooked on that play, and boy, if he gets the edge he's going to get a lot of yards," Pixley said of Bourbon's first touchdown run. "We thought we had good angles on him, but come to find out, we didn't. He just ran right by us. He's very fast, a very good back. "I felt like we had him hemmed up a few times, but he bounced it out, or bounced it in, and was gone," Pixley continued. "It's just kind of playing out of position. Whenever you run to the ball you have to stay in your lanes, you've got to do things right. When your out of position great backs will hit those opening and he did that.

"The bad snap on the punt hurt us," he added. "We just didn't have a very good first have. I didn't feel like we were confident and we really needed to be confident against a team of this caliber. We did come back and play better in the second half, but it was just too late."

Gary Summers hauled in seven of Mills' passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns, while Ryan Windham had two catches for 42 yards and one TD. Wesley McCollough was Dexter's leading ball carrier with 11 attempts for 58 yards. Aaron Mace led the defensive effort with seven tackles, including one sack of five yards.

For the Bearcats, and especially the seniors, it was a rough way to the end the season and high school football careers.

"I was very proud of them," Pixley said of this year team that finished 5-6. "I told them at the end of the regular season and I told them that out here. I said don't look at this football game and think about your senior football season. You need to think about all the positives, all the games we grinned and gutted out and played through and won.

" I said you can't take this game and let it mean anything towards your senior year," he added. "And I don't think they will. I think they will have a lot of good memories and be proud of themselves. We've got quite a few kinds coming back and I told them the real work starts right now. The most important part of our season is the off season and we've got to become bigger, faster and stronger next season."

Potosi will now travel to New Madrid County Central for a rematch with the Eagles, a team they beat 39-6 in the third week of the season. The Eagles defeated Fredericktown 51-14 Wednesday night to earn a second shot at the Trojans, ranked No. 2 in the state in the final regular season polls.