Dexter quarterback Ben Mills gets tackled by Ste. Genevieve linebacker Dustin Noll Friday night in Ste. Genevieve. At right is Seth McBride. (Alex Abate/DAR) [Click to enlarge]

By ALEX ABATE ~ DAR Sports Writer

STE. GENEVIEVE -- Dexter quarterback Ben Mills dropped back to pass near his own end zone and fired to the left side to Ryan Windham but after the ball bounced off Windham's hands, Ste. Genevieve's Jeremy Vaeth grabbed the ball and ran across the goal line for a Dragons touchdown.

It was just that kind of night for the Bearcats. The Dragons got off to a 29-0 lead by halftime and cruised to a 49-19 win Friday night.

It's the second straight year the Dexter started with a loss to the Dragons.

"We defended better in the second half," Dexter coach Aaron Pixley said. "Offensively, there is really no excuse, we should be able to run the ball better than that. We need to block better."

Ste. Genevieve made a living early by eating up huge chunks of yardage with short passes that were taken for big gains after the catch. The Dragons scored three times through the air in the first quarter to take a 21-0 lead. Ste. Genevieve quarterback Kory Faulkner threw for 394 yards and five scores.

"He is good," Pixley said. "He runs the show good."

The Bearcats had some chances late in the second quarter with fumble recoveries, the second on a botched Dragon punt return. The Bearcats moved the ball inside the 10-yard line, but turned the ball over on downs as they were not able to score before the break.

"We should have scored twice in the first half, at least twice," Pixley said. "Inside that 20-yard line, you have to smell blood, so to speak. You have got to get it in the end zone and we didn't do a good job of that."

Ste. Genevieve scored two more times before Dexter finally got on the board in the third quarter as Mills found Gary Summers for a 20-yard score.

Faulkner found a teammate again early in the final frame for a score before Mills connected with Windham for a score of 24 yards. After another Dragon score, Mills, who threw for 275 yards on 17 completions, found Summers again with less than a minute to go in the contest to set the final margin.

The Bearcats had 346 yards of total offense but never could seem to put a complete drive together before the Dragons had built up their big lead.

"That was really the story of our offense," Pixley said. "There was a couple series in there that they stopped us cold after three plays, but shoot, not many. We were moving the ball and for whatever reason, missed block here, missed block there, a penalty -- I don't even think the penalties bothered us that bad but I think missed blocks and lack of execution on certain plays stopped drives and we have to learn to finish."

After the 40-35 shootout last year, the Bearcats were not surprised by the Dragons offense. They just did not contain it well, Pixley said.

Seth McBride finished with 65 yards on the ground filling in for injured tailback Nick Hessling. The Bearcats had other players out injured but that is no excuse, Pixley said.

"We just need to get those guys healthy and get them back but you know what, we are not going to make any excuses for that," Pixley said. "We put some guys in the game that we felt like could do the job and we as a team just didn't get it done."