Scott City football drops regular season finale at Dexter, will face East Prairie in playoffs

The Dexter High School football squad had an opportunity to make history on Friday in its final regular season game against Scott City at Charles Bland Stadium.

Only in three other regular seasons had the Bearcats gone through the gauntlet unscathed (1940, 1963, and 1986). This year’s version left nothing to chance against the Rams, as Dexter ran over the visitors from the opening minutes and prevailed 62-7.

It was the ninth victory in as many outings for third-year Bearcat coach Chad Jamerson’s kids.

“There were a lot of emotions going on tonight,” Jamerson said after finishing the most successful regular season of his 21 seasons on the sidelines. “I am just so proud of these kids and of everything that they have worked hard to achieve in these last three seasons.

The Bearcats (9-0) were already the SEMO Conference Central Division champions, have been ranked as high as third in the Class 3 state poll this season, and with Friday’s victory, clinched the top seed in the upcoming MSHSAA Class 3 District 1 playoff.

“I can’t even put into words right now how I feel,” Jamerson said. “What a night for these guys. What a special season.”

Dexter wasted little time jumping on the Rams (5-4).

Bearcat senior speedster Lee-Michael McDonald scored on a 13-yard run less than 2:30 into the game and an extra point from senior Parker King made it a 7-0 game.

Scott City answered however with an impressive drive to the 18-inch line midway through the opening period, but the most stifling defense in the history of Stoddard County stopped the Rams from scoring on fourth down.

“That just showed (Scott City) that we will bend,” Jamerson said, “but we are not going to break.”

The Dexter defense allowed just 63 points from opponents all season, with the Bearcat starters only allowing seven touchdowns against them in nine games.

Just 62 seconds following that defensive stop, Bearcat senior Jett Grams tore off a 70-yard run for a 14-0 margin and the rout was building steam.

The Bearcats totaled over 300 yards gained on the ground, with Grams gaining 182 of those.

“I wanted to make sure that we fed Jett the ball tonight,” Jamerson said.

Grams has run for 905 yards this season and averaged 9.8 yards per carry.

“That (1,000-yard mark) is kind of a threshold for running backs,” Jamerson said.

In Jamerson’s 12 years of orchestrating an offense, he has only had one player run for 1,000 yards in his offense.

“I spread the ball around so much,” Jamerson said of his play calling. “That is quite a testament to (Grams).”

Dexter sophomore defensive back Houston Neely recovered a Ram fumble at the Scott City 34-yard line which was the first of Neely’s three turnovers generated.

“Houston showed up to play… again,” Jamerson emphasized.

That turnover led to another of the 18 Bearcat seniors, Nolan Alford, scoring on a 14-yard run, which put Dexter up 21-0 by the end of the first quarter.

Neely picked off a pass from Scott City quarterback Jackson Gloth with 11:45 left before halftime, and Grams added another score, this one from 18 yards out, early in the second quarter for a 28-0 margin.

Bearcat junior Devin Turnbo hauled in a pair of one-handed receptions on the same drive, with the second coming off the hands of a Scott City defender. Turnbo raced 35 yards for a 34-0 score.

Dexter quarterback Jackson Howard threw a short pass to McDonald for his second touchdown pass of the quarter, before Neely had another pick, and Turnbo had another scoring catch (21 yards) for a 48-0 halftime lead.

The Rams got on the board late in the third quarter when Gloth hit Lane Miller for a six-yard score for a 41-7 margin, but Bearcat senior tight end Logan Pullum ran for a short touchdown and senior Rylee Cochran tore off a 49-yard run to end the evening.

“It is tough to pull off a season like we pulled off this year,” Jamerson said. “Number one, we had to play lights out week in and week out, and that speaks volumes about how focused these young men have been.”

Cochran tallied 53 yards rushing while Turnbo had three receptions for 97 yards.

McDonald had three receptions for 38 yards and Howard completed 9 of 11 passes for 157 yards, three scores, and an interception.

Dexter junior linebacker Jason Hervoyavich made 10 tackles while junior linebackers Conner Hill and Rhett Wamble each had seven tackles in the win.

Ram junior Rustyn Underwood and Miller each had five tackles for Scott City.

Underwood rushed for 113 yards while Gloth completed 9 of 17 passes for one score, two picks, and 77 yards.

Scott City senior wide receiver AJ Hayden had five catches for 50 yards while Miller added three receptions for 14 yards.

Dexter has earned a bye in the C3D1 playoff. It will host the winner of No. 4-seed Fredericktown (3-6) and No. 5-seed Potosi (3-6) on Nov. 8 at 7 p.m.

No. 6-seed Scott City will visit No. 3-seed East Prairie (7-2) on Friday at 7 p.m. The Rams beat the Eagles 22-0 in East Prairie to open the season on Aug. 30.