Dexter denies Tribe trip to playoffs

SEMO News Service photo by Jerry Jarrell Kennett's Dwight Usry (left) is brought down by Dexter defenders Austin Featherston (top right) and Hunter Bruce during Thursday's high school football game at Metz Cherry Stadium. [Click to enlarge]

The Tribe has not beaten the Dexter Bearcats since former Kennett assistant Aaron Pixley took the reins of the program in 2000, and that did not change Thursday night as Dexter handed the Indians a 35-8 loss at Metz Cherry Stadium.

Kennett's last victory over the Bearcats was on October 29, 1999.

SEMO News Service photo by Jerry Jarrell Kennett's Jimmy Gooden (bottom) has a pass broken up by Dexter defenders Austin Featherston (center) and Gary Summers Thursday night at Metz Cherry Stadium. [Click to enlarge]

Needing to beat Dexter by eight or more points to have a shot of going to the postseason, the Tribe (3-7, 1-3 SEMO Central) could not get untracked until it was too late.

"Dexter did a great job of preparing, but they didn't do anything that we didn't practice for," Kennett coach Kenneth "Red" Riedinger said. "We just didn't do a real good job of executing our gameplan defensively. At the end of the day, we had a chance to do something -- we just didn't get it done."

The 'Cats set the tempo on the opening drive, getting a nine-yard carry from Shawn Slavings on the first play from scrimmage to open a 10-play, 70-yard drive that was capped by a nine-yard touchdown pass from Ben Mills to Ryan Windham with 6:01 left in the opening period to make it 6-0.

Dexter (5-5, 3-1) got back on the board with 8:14 left in the second quarter after a short punt put the Bearcats in business on the Kennett 26-yard line. Five plays later, Slavings ran it in from six yards out to make it 12-0.

After forcing a Tribe punt, Dexter drove 53 yards in four plays, making it 19-0 after a six-yard run by Joshua Overall with 4:03 left before the break. The sophomore also had a 59-yard run on the previous play to get the 'Cats out of a third-and-22 hole at their own 39.

"We were getting a lot of three and four yard runs and that is okay on a night like this -- we were wanting to move the sticks," Pixley said, "We popped a few in there and that is what you get whenever you continue to hit those three and four yarders. Every now and then, one of them is going to pop."

Mills added a 13-yard scoring toss to Windham with 1:08 left until halftime to stake Dexter to a 25-0 lead at the intermission.

While Dexter was dominating on offense in the opening half, the defense was even stronger as it limited the Tribe to zero yards of offense in the game's first 24 minutes.

"We got off the ball well, I think we dominated the line of scrimmage and that is key," Pixley said. "We don't win if we don't win the line of scrimmage, there is no way."

Dexter stretched its lead to 32-0 late in the third quarter when Jake Cox intercepted a pass and returned it 68 yards for a score, and Dylan Acevedo added a 35-yard field goal with 10:02 left in the game to cap the Bearcats' scoring for the night.

The Tribe broke up the shutout when Adam Grantham connected with Jimmy Gooden on a 64-yard scoring strike in the game's final minute. Grantham ran in the two-point conversion to set the final score.

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

Grantham finished the game 14-of-27 passing for 145 yards with a TD and an interception, finishing his sophomore season with 976 yards through the air on 66-of-144 passing with 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Gooden caught four passes for 96 yards, while Cameron Wallace added seven catches for 36 yards, Andy Lack caught a pair of passes for seven yards and Dwight Usry added a six-yard catch.

Wallace and Lack, both juniors, combined for 20 catches and 260 yards over Kennett's last three games.

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

The Bearcats will travel to undefeated Potosi in a regional game Wednesday night. Dexter won five of its last six games after an 0-4 start to earn its third playoff berth this decade.

"I am proud of the fact that our kids stuck with it and didn't give up," Pixley said. "A lot of teams would give up at that point and our kids didn't and I think they just progressively got better."