DEXTER -- Dexter demands your respect.
After losing to Sikeston seven times in eight years, including 62-14 two years ago and 43-0 last year, the Bearcats won 12-0 Friday at Charles Bland Stadium. It was the first time Dexter had shutout Sikeston since 2007 and the Bulldogs' first shutout loss since Oct. 2, 2015.
"I'm speechless, honestly. How we all came together as a team means the world to me," said Caleb Hoggard, who led Dexter with 84 rushing yards and a touchdown on 38 carries.
Since the beginning of August, the Bearcats have been trying to prove they are better than previous years. At their fall media day, the seniors said they wanted a winning record for the season, it would be the program's first since Dexter went 9-2 in 2011.
The Bearcats came in 3-1 for the first time since 2011 but without a quality win. Dexter coach Kevin Goltra told the team that in everybody else's eyes, they were still that 3-7 team from last year, just with a win over Ste. Genevieve. They hadn't earned any respect.
"We've grown up. We were young back then. We ain't young no more. We're just here to prove everybody wrong. We got some respect tonight, and that's it," Dexter linebacker and running back Bo McMullin said.
Respect Dexter's physicality
It took three quarters for somebody to reach the red zone. Dexter was the first to get there and turned it into a touchdown.
The Bearcats ran the ball 10 times on the drive, all in the wildcat formation, for 40 yards before Hoggard walked into the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 1.
Dexter (4-1) forced a three and out, ground a few minutes off the clock before punting, then Gabe Jackson got a sack pushing Sikeston (3-2) into second-and-15.
After an incomplete pass, Sikeston quarterback Nate Self threw long down the sideline, and Dexter's Trevor McDonald tracked it down for an over-the-shoulder catch and interception.
"I seen the ball out of his hands and I was reading it just right," McDonald said. "I sprinted after it, I felt it hit my hands, and at that point I knew we had it. I knew we had this game in the bag. Emotions flew through me the whole time. I just felt great for everybody and myself. We just played so good tonight. The defensive unit was there and we were strong."
Dexter had the ball at midfield with more than 5 minutes left. The Bearcats, who attempted three passes all game, of course did nothing but run the ball and Sikeston had no answer.
Helped along by a 15-yard facemask penalty, Dexter ran seven times for a touchdown for 5.6 yards per carry. The final five runs were all Corbin Strong on fresh legs, who bulldozed through tackles. He got 11 yards, then 3, 12, 6 and 2 more that put him in the end zone.
Strong finished 10 carries for 72 yards and a touchdown in the game.
"I think the last 4-5 minutes, our kids wanted it more and we wore them down. It took the entire game to do so," Goltra said. "They are extremely physical. That comes from weight room and confidence, as far as that goes."
Sikeston's last-ditch attempt with 2 minutes left got one first down, just the team's sixth, before three incomplete passes and a sniffed out middle screen allowed Dexter to kneel it out.
"Not that they didn't believe it, but now they know they can win the rest of the games on their schedule," Goltra said. "I don't think they needed to prove it to themselves, I think they needed to prove it to everyone else, and tonight they did."
Respect Dexter's defense
The Bearcats allowed 94 yards of offense. Sikeston earned just 30 rushing yards on 24 attempts. In all, the Bulldog offense averaged 1.9 yards per play and crossed the 50 twice.
McDonald and Strong each picked off a pass. Jackson had 1 1/2 sacks and eight total tackles, tied for the team lead with McMullin.
Jett Featherston, Braxton Foster and Spencer Owens each had half a sack.
The Bearcats didn't allow a 20-yard play and Sikeston had just three gain more than 10 yards. Matthew Perry, who was averaging 132 rushing yards before Friday, led Sikeston with 10 rushes for 25 yards and Bryce Bays had six catches for 40 yards.
Self, who had a career night the week before with 206 yards and four touchdowns in a win over Cape Central, was 12 for 26 passing for 64 yards.
"We just worked hard, honestly. We had a gameplan coming in to stop all their long balls because they are kind of a big play team. If you can stop that, you can stop Sikeston," Jackson said.
Respect Dexter's coaches
Dexter has been playing around with the wildcat formation since the summer. Goltra's offense is about power running. In the pistol formation, the quarterback is a greater threat to run, but the 170-pound Sindle is not a power running back. The wildcat and its extra blocker offers a counter for teams that load the box.
The Bearcats didn't employ it the first four weeks of the season, partly because Hoggard needed practice reps and partly because they didn't need it against the likes of New Madrid and Drexel.
"I was stressing on it the whole week (about taking the snap)," Hoggard said. "The line came through for us and it was just automatic."
The coaches thought they might need a spark against Sikeston.
Dexter finished with 160 yards rushing for 3.2 yards per attempt. Hoggard never attempted a pass from the wildcat, and Sindle finished 2 for 3 for 18 yards.
"We've got to get Hoggard to where he can throw the ball. You saw he had zero interceptions because he had zero attempts. Teams are going to pick up on that in a hurry," Goltra said. "We knew the schedule toughened up after Drexel, so we wanted to get that done right away and we'll expand it."
Respect Dexter's focus
"They were as intense and fired up to play this football game as any football game I've ever been around. There was a whole lot of bulletin board material from both sides going around. Our kids took it a little personal," Goltra said.
Goltra also got a text late Thursday night. He was trying to go to sleep, it was from an assistant coach. Apparently six Bearcats had just showed up to the coaches house wanting to watch film.
"They knew everything that Sikeston was going to run and they knew exactly what they were supposed to do to defend it. When that happens in high school football, good things happen," Goltra said.
The Bulldogs tried wide receiver screens, running back screens, jet sweeps, long bombs, nothing went for more than 13 yards. Their most successful chunk of yardage on the night was when the Bulldogs recovered a muffed punt for, essentially, a 28-yard gain.