FREDERICKTOWN BREAKS HEX, SLAYS DRAGONS FOR FIRST TIME IN 16 YEARS (PREP NOTES)

The Dragons were breathing down the necks of Fredericktown Friday night.

But, for the first time in 16 years, the Black Cats extinguished Ste. Genevieve.

The Dragons, having already scored a fourth-quarter touchdown and trailing 15-12, had the ball with three minutes left and managed two first downs in the drive, but Fredericktown held off Ste. Gen and regained possession with 50 seconds left.

Ste. Gen scored on its first possession, but Fredericktown immediately responded with eight points.

Fredericktown's defense has excelled this season and hasn't allowed more than 17 points in any of its three games.

"I figured to have a chance, it would have to be a low-scoring game," Fredericktown coach Kent Gibbs said. "Our offense is simply not real good right now."

Still, Gibbs will take the 2-1 record.

"This is the best start we've had in a long time," he said. "But it's time to move on to Farmington and they have a good team."

Piggott flies past Chaffee

CHAFFEE -- It was pretty much over before it even got started Friday night for the Chaffee Red Devils.

Chaffee (1-2), wanting to remain undefeated at home, was blistered 50-28 by Piggott, Ark.

The Red Devils trailed 36-8 at halftime.

"They just jumped on us early, and before we knew it, it was 21-8 and we couldn't recover from that," said Chaffee coach Allan Horrell. "It was one that we expected to win and we let it get away from us. We just came out flat."

Running back Tommy Stidham and Travis Handback led Chaffee's offensive charge.

Stidham carried the ball 20 times for 91 yards and two touchdowns.

Handback, in addition to one touchdown rushing, completed 10-of-28 passes for 155 yards, one interception and one touchdown.

Ben Boitnott caught a 78-yard pass for a touchdown and Jeremy Lynn caught two passes for 43 yards for the Red Devils.

St. Vincent's better half

PERRYVILLE -- Despite its 3-0 record and dominating defense, St. Vincent had scored a total of just three points in the first half of its first two games.

So much for slow starts.

St. Vincent emerged from its first-half slump Friday night, exploding for a 23-0 halftime lead.

St. Vincent eventually emerged as a 36-6 winner over Park Hills.

"Finally, we got some offense in the first half," said St. Vincent coach Paul Sauer. "We came out and executed real well the first half."

Indians quarterback Jonathan Paulus went 9-for-15 for 174 yards and two touchdowns.

Josh Meyer carried the ball 18 times for 69 yards.

"He played well," Sauer said. "He connected for a 51-yard pass in the first quarter and got things rolling for us."

Jeremy Best, Mark Gotto and Josh Robinson each scored rushing touchdowns for St. Vincent

Ryan Prost had a big receiving night, catching three passes for 94 yards. Ryan Brown and Cory Strattman each had touchdown receptions.

St. Vincent continued its domination. The Indians have allowed just 20 points in three games and the six points that Park Hills scored Friday night was against St. Vincent's second team.

Sikeston back was just incredible

DEXTER -- Justin Robinson put forth the best running performance in Sikeston history -- and that's a long history -- with his 296 yards rushing on 30 carries.

His yardage mark broke the eight-year-old school record of 259 held by Tiger Boyd.

And the Bulldogs (2-1) needed every bit of his efforts to squeak out a 42-32 track meet against the Dexter Bearcats Friday night.

Robinson, who scored five of his team's six touchdowns, provided 93 percent of his team's 318 rushing yards and 86 percent of the team's 357 total offense. (He caught a touchdown pass for 10 yards).

Sikeston found itself trailing 20-14 early in the second quarter, but the Bulldogs scored three straight touchdowns to make the score 35-20 heading into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, Dexter -- which had 426 yards of total offense, including 304 rushing yards -- scored twice to cut the score to 35-32.

But Robinson clinched the game on a 50-yard touchdown run.

No offense, but where'd the `D' come from?

CARUTHERSVILLE -- For two teams who had given up a combined 153 points, the Charleston-Caruthersville game didn't live up to the billing.

Both defenses were much improved and Charleston eventually won the game 12-6 in overtime.

Charleston, which tied the game at 6 with just 1:55 left in regulation, managed just 186 yards of total offense, while Caruthersville had just 176.