STE. GENEVIEVE -- Take away a couple of big plays, and the Dexter Bearcats' defense was solid in Friday night's season opener against Ste. Genevieve.
Running back Darien Brown broke loose for a pair of long touchdown runs, and the Dragons beat Dexter 21-0 at Ste. Genevieve High School.
"I thought they kept us in the game," Dexter coach Aaron Pixley said of his defense. "I felt like most of our players were giving everything they've got. I think that we still have some people hesitating a little bit. Whenever you hesitate, you create huge gaps for people to get into. I think that happened.
"But at the same time I say that, we made a lot of big stops, made a lot of big plays on defense. (We had) two stops inside the (12 yard line), one of them was inside the 5. ... That was big for us. It was very positive for us. I think that our two inside linebackers had a big night."
Jett Featherston and Corbin Strong combined for 19 tackles and 10 assists. Strong had 11 tackles, five assists, one tackle for loss and one fumble recovery. Featherston had eight tackles, five assists and one tackle for loss, and he broke up a pass.
Ste. Genevieve drove to the Bearcats' 12 late in the first quarter, but Brown fumbled and Strong recovered for the Bearcats.
The Dragons drove to the Dexter 4 late in the second quarter, but Isaac Boyd was stopped for no gain on fourth and 4.
"We stammered a little bit on offense, and we've got to fix that," Ste. Genevieve coach Ken Weik said. "But I was proud of our defense. You can't play any better than that, I think. They're a good football team. They're big guys. They got their yards, but we bent and didn't break. I'm proud of that."
The Bearcats' best scoring opportunity came on their opening possession. After forcing Ste. Genevieve to punt from its own 23, they took possession at the Ste. Genevieve 46. Behind the running of Caleb Hoggard and Strong, the Bearcats drove to the Ste. Genevieve 27 before the drive stalled. Strong ran for 10 yards on four carries, and Hoggard had eight yards on two carries.
Strong finished the game with 36 yards on 11 carries, and Hoggard had 18 yards on seven attempts.
Quarterback Haden Hillis ran for a team-high 40 yards that were amassed on one drive in the third quarter.
"The second time we had the football in the second half, you started to see our offense start rolling a little bit," said Pixley, who began his second tenure as the Bearcats' head coach Friday night. "Haden got going and had some really good runs. Unfortunately, he (got) hurt on a really good run there on the sideline."
Hillis left the game after a 14-yard gain with what Pixley called a collarbone/shoulder injury.
The Bearcats gained only 153 yards of total offense with 128 coming on the ground.
"If we don't start getting better on offense, it's going to be very tough on our defense to (play like it did Friday) night in and night out," Pixley said. "I think that we saw that last year a little bit. We have to find our niche on offense. We've got to move the ball. We didn't do a very good job of moving the ball."
Pixley took responsibility for the Bearcats' struggling offense.
"We've just got make sure everyone is doing their job," Pixley said. "That's my job. It's not anybody else's job to make sure that happens. ... Whenever we lose, it's my fault. I'm glad to take it. I've got to find a way to make us better by next Friday night."
The Dragons accumulated 366 yards of total offense with 286 yards rushing.
Brown rushed for 172 yards on 17 carries (10.1 yards per carry).
After a scoreless first quarter, Brown ran right for a 43-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 8:46 left in the second quarter. He busted through the line and raced 44 yards for a touchdown with 10:16 left in the third quarter.
The Dragons capped the scoring when Logan Gegg ended a 57-yard drive with a 2-yard run with 11:20 left in the game.
Chad Donze went 3-for-3 on extra points.
The Bearcats will host Salem at 7 p.m. Friday at Charles Bland Stadium.