Dexter lays 2022 demons to rest in shutout of Sikeston

SIKESTON – For a year, second-year Dexter High School football coach Chad Jamerson had to re-live in his nightmares his team’s stunning loss to Sikeston last season at Charles Bland Stadium in Dexter.

Jamerson’s boys steamrolled the Bulldogs through the first half and took a 25-7 lead into the locker room at halftime. However, Sikeston made some halftime adjustments and took Dexter to the woodshed outscoring them 35-10 in the second half and getting on the bus with its third consecutive win over the Bearcats.

“For 365 days,” Jamerson said following Friday’s game with the Bulldogs in Sikeston, “I’ve thought about all of the stuff that had been put on social media. For 365 days, I thought about all of the stuff that was said to me about me and about our boys.

“We had a great gameplan and we were fired up to play (on Friday).”

That emotion showed as Dexter blanked Sikeston 22-0. It was the second consecutive week that the Bearcats defense looked tremendous, and its counterpart, the offense, did enough to win.

“We came out and executed,” Jamerson said. “We bent at times, but we did not break.”

Much like in last week’s win over Scott City, another surprising upset on the part of Dexter, the Bearcats left some offensive production on the board early.

The Bearcats (2-0) had the ball in the red zone twice in the opening half, but came away with no points, once on an incomplete pass on a fourth down, and another time on a missed field goal after a drive had stalled. However, late in the second quarter, Dexter put together a drive, keyed by a nice 26-yard pass from quarterback Jackson Howard to tight end Logan Pullum, and Howard capped that drive with a one-yard plunge into the end zone for a 7-0 lead.

“It was out of necessity tonight,” Jamerson said of utilizing Howard on run plays. “Sikeston was making adjustments and taking away what we do. We told Jackson that it was his time to get his number called and he made some plays for us in the run game.”

The run game was effective for both teams, however, the difference was that the Bearcats completed drives, while twice the Bulldogs (0-2) lost drives to fumbles.

Dexter managed 132 yards rushing while Sikeston had 217.

On the final play of the third quarter, Howard bolted to the four-yard line before junior power-back, Jett Grams, finished the drive with a three-yard score for a 15-0 lead following a two-point conversion.

The Bulldogs lost any semblance of hope with just over five minutes remaining when a Bulldog punt returner touched the rolling kick at his own 11-yard line and the Bearcat coverage unit pounced on the free ball.

A couple of plays later, Grams barreled in from three yards out again for the final margin.

“Jett is a special kid,” Jamerson said. “He is even-keeled all of the time. He never gets too up or too down.”

Grams finished with 23 yards rushing while junior Lee-Michael McDonald had 57 yards gained and senior RJ Farmer totaled 30 on the ground.

Sikeston got 74 yards rushing from Keane Atkins, who strung together a pair of nice long runs in the third quarter while Keodrick Sherrod (62 yards rushing) and Trez Clark (65) were also productive.

The 2-0 start is the first for the Bearcats since 2011.

Sikeston will host Kennett on Friday at 7 p.m.

Dexter will host New Madrid County Central on Friday at 7 p.m.