C3Q1 FB: Lift For Life runs past Dexter to end 'Cats perfect season

A Lift For Life wide receiver sprints past Dexter High School junior defensive back Devin Turnbo for a 54-yard score int he second half of the MSHSAA Class 3 Quarterfinal 1 Football Playoff game at Mehlville High School in St. Louis on Saturday.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

ST. LOUIS – Dexter had its most successful football season in program history come to a halt on Saturday, as it fell to an athletic Lift For Life squad 50-12 in the MSHSAA Class 3 quarterfinal game at Mehlville High School.

“Sooner or later,” third-year Bearcat coach Chad Jamerson said following the loss, “the magic runs out.”

For the second consecutive week, the Bearcats (11-1) fell behind in the first half. However, there was no rallying for a victory against the Hawks (8-5) like a week earlier in the Class 3 District 1 championship game against Ste. Genevieve.

“In the second half,” Jamerson continued, “we weren’t able to string anything together and we got ourselves in some bad spots on offense and defense.”

With the speed and athleticism of Lift For Life, the only opportunity for the Bearcats was to get into a track meet and win a high-scoring affair, because slowing the Hawks down wouldn’t happen.

Offensively, that would have taken a much more balanced approach, which Jamerson said really wasn’t his team’s forte.

“We couldn’t get anything going (offensively),” Jamerson said. “We would find ourselves behind the sticks and we’re not built for first and long and second and long. Every offense is built for a second and mid or third and short situation.

“We weren’t able to convert those tough situations.”

The Hawks jumped on the Bearcats, literally, early in the game, when a Lift For Life defender jumped a Bearcat passing route and scored on a pick-6 interception from 33 yards out just 92 seconds into the game for a 6-0 margin.

However, Dexter rebounded from that with solid play on both sides of the ball.

The Bearcat defense got an impressive stop on fourth-and-shot midway through before the offense put together a five-minute drive, which was capped by a short scoring run from junior Devin Turnbo to tie the score at six points apiece.

“I thought the offensive line did a really good job of creating some space for (Turnbo) and creating lanes,” Jamerson said. “He ran hard and into a bunch of walls at that second level.”

The Hawks answered with a quick 30-yard touchdown run for a 12-6 lead, but on the next defensive series, discipline hurt them.

Lift For Life forced Dexter into a fourth-and-three at the Hawk 10-yard line, but the defense jumped offside, which enabled Bearcat runner Jett Grams to carry the ball shortly thereafter for a short score to tie the game again.

Dexter had some mojo going for it late in the first half, but Lift For Life put together a quick scoring drive just prior to halftime to take an 18-12 lead into intermission.

“They scored before the end of the first half,” Jamerson recalled, “and that kind of knocked some wind out of us and we couldn’t recover.”

No, Dexter couldn’t.

The Hawks had deferred from taking the opening kickoff, and scored again, this time on a 54-yard pass, midway through the third period for a 26-12 advantage, and at that point, Dexter was in peril.

Needing to throw for quick scores and drives, the Bearcats “struggled to throw the ball,” according to Jamerson.

The quick-strike Bearcat offense, which had relied on explosive sweep runs or Grams pounding through the defense didn’t work, and Lift For Life cruised through the second half with 32 unanswered points.

“They made some good second-half adjustments,” Jamerson said. “We struggled to throw the ball a little bit at times tonight, and then we made some mistakes and put ourselves behind the sticks on offense.

“Defensively, we had guys right there, (but) athletes make you miss sometimes. That is kind of what happened in the second half.”

Grams paced the Bearcats with 54 yards rushing while Turnbo added 47.

Senior quarterback Jackson Howard completed five passes for 22 yards, but threw a pair of interceptions, both of which went for Hawk scores.

Bearcat junior linebacker Jason Hervoyavich led his team with 11 tackles while Rhett Wamble and Ethan Glaus each had six stops.

The loss concluded a season that set a new mark for success for Bearcat football. The nine-win perfect regular season was just the fourth in Dexter history and the first since 1986.

“It’s been a great year,” Jamerson said. “I’m so proud of all that these kids accomplished this year.”