Sports

The voting for the 2019 recipient of the Charles Bland Award was extremely close, according to committee member Jason Comfort. Comfort announced the results of the vote of the six-member committee Monday night during the Dexter High School Fall Sports Honors Program...

BERNIE — Jason Long will have some huge shoes to fill as Bernie’s boys basketball coach. Long has taken over for Brad Botsch, who won more basketball games than any of his predecessors in 12 years as coach. Botsch stepped down after he was named high school principal...

BLOOMFIELD — Bloomfield boys basketball coach Brandon Crook has been focusing on finishing games. The Wildcats, who went 6-18 last season, were more competitive than their final record indicated. They lost seven games by eight or fewer points, including four by two or fewer points...

PUXICO — Scrappy and hard-nosed are words first-year Puxico boys basketball coach Jim Jones uses when describing his team. Defense and rebounding will be key if the Indians intend to improve on their 5-20 record of a year ago, “The thing we’ll have to do well this year is block out and rebound,” said Jones, who was an assistant coach for the Indians last season. “Keep our turnovers at a reasonable level and guard hard, and I think we’ll be fine.”...

BLOOMFIELD — Bloomfield girls basketball coach Louis Bell hopes for continued growth in his team’s fourth season of existence. Bloomfield's growth has been slow but steady. The Wildcats won a program-best five games last season but lost three seniors from that squad: Tyrah Hartle, Michaela Tidwell and Lilly Warrick...

PUXICO — The Puxico girls basketball team must find a way to succeed without the school’s all-time leading scorer. The Indians lost Sophia Hancock, who finished with 2,055 career points, averaging 25 points, 13.5 rebounds and four steals per game as a senior...

The Woodland boys basketball team brings back only two upperclassmen — seniors David Jansen and Carter Mayfield — from last year’s varsity squad. Woodland lost five seniors — Wyatt Allen, Dalton Boyer, Paul Duncan, Connor Goodwin and Karson Skinner — and one junior — Malachi Huffman — from a team that went 11-13 and went 3-4 in the SCAA...

The schedule for the Bloomfield boys basketball jamboree has changed. Games will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 23, rather than 2 p.m. Here’s the updated schedule: Puxico vs. Risco, 10 a.m. Leopold vs. Puxico, 10:30 a.m. Bloomfield vs. Risco, 11 a.m...

Dexter junior Mekenzie Yount and five other SCAA athletes have been named to the Missouri High School Volleyball Coaches Association all-state teams. Yount helped the Bearcats achieve a 20-10-4 record and a second-place finish in the Class 3 District 1 tournament...

The Dexter wrestling team will defend its district title against a familiar field. The Bearcats learned who their postseason competition will be Friday when MSHSAA announced district assignments for basketball and wrestling. Thirteen of the 14 teams in last year’s Class 2 District 1 return. However, the field has been expanded to 16 teams...

Defending champion Oran has been named the top seed for the 64th Oran Invitational boys basketball tournament that begins Dec. 2. Three SCAA schools will compete in the tournament that runs through Dec. 6. Advance is the second seed, Richland fourth and Bell City eighth...

BELL CITY — The Bell City boys basketball team hasn’t tasted victory since Feb. 24, 2017. Second-year coach Dom Johnson hopes to end the Cubs’ 43-game losing streak — according to MSHSAA.org. The Cubs went 0-20 two seasons ago and 0-22 in 2018-19. “It’s one thing we’ve talked about since we started practice,” Johnson said before practice Thursday. ...

The Dexter football team took a step back in 2019, posting a 1-8 record after reaching the Class 3 District 1 semifinals last season. However, second-year head coach Aaron Pixley sees light at the end of the tunnel. The success of the 2018 Bearcats, who finished 5-5, was based on a large senior class that came together late to make a postseason run...

CAPE GIRARDEAU — The Advance Hornets have formed a special bond over the years. That bond helped the Hornets win their second straight MSHSAA Class 1 volleyball championship Saturday at the Show Me Center. “We’ve grown up with each other and been playing together for a long time,” junior Alyssa Miles said. “I think we have a chemistry that a lot of teams struggle to get.”...

CAPE GIRARDEAU — The Advance Hornets collapsed to the floor and celebrated the moment Saturday at the Show Me Center. After all, the Hornets had completed a 25-11, 25-21 victory over Santa Fe to win their second straight MSHSAA Class 1 volleyball championship...

Dexter senior Margo Nea ran down one of her biggest goals Saturday at the MSHSAA Class 3 Cross Country Championship in Columbia. Nea won an all-state medal with a 25th-place finish at Gans Creek Cross Country Course, the new site for the state championships...

CAPE GIRARDEAU — The defending state champion Advance Hornets saved their best for last Friday in the MSHSAA Class 1 Volleyball Championships. The Hornets swept Billings 25-8, 25-11 to complete semifinal pool play with a 6-0 record. They had already clinched a spot in the title match, which is set for 1:30 p.m. Saturday, with a 25-18, 25-11 sweep of Calvary Lutheran earlier in the day.

Advance, Billings, Calvary Lutheran and Santa Fe will compete in the Class 1 volleyball final four Friday, Nov. 8 and Saturday, Nov. 9 at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

BLOOMFIELD — Advance volleyball coach Erin Hoffman wants her team to have fun. She illustrates that philosophy at the start of every match. During player introductions, every player gives the coach a high-five, and most have a big smile on their faces, including the coach...

Mississippi State senior MaKayla Waldner was named to the all-SEC soccer first team as a midfielder, the league office announced on Sunday. The Dexter native was also named co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Waldner led all SEC midfielders with 10 goals and was second in points (21) in the regular season. She leads Mississippi State in goals, points, shots and shots on goal. The Bulldog captain rewrote the MSU record book in her final season...

BLOOMFIELD — The Advance volleyball team is relentless. The Hornets continually pounded Bloomfield at the net and rolled to a 25-12, 25-2 victory in a Class 1 sectional playoff Saturday at Bloomfield High School. “That can get in your head,” Bloomfield coach Haley Silman said of the Hornets’ offensive blitz. “I felt like it got in our heads. We just let them play. We couldn’t recover from it.”...

BLOOMFIELD — The Advance volleyball team put the pedal to the metal after a slow start and raced into the Class 1 final four. Advance beat Holcomb 25-10, 25-4 in a Class 1 quarterfinal Saturday at Bloomfield High School. Advance never trailed but had trouble shaking the District 1 champion through much of the first set. Holcomb trailed by only four points (12-8) midway through the set and seven (17-10) before the defending state champion took control...

Four Stoddard County runners qualified for the MSHSSA Boys and Girls Cross Country Championships on Saturday. Dexter senior Margo Nea reached the Class 3 state race for the third straight year, placing ninth in the District 1 race at Notre Dame High School in Cape Girardeau with a time of 20 minutes, 43.71 seconds...

PARK HILLS — The Dexter offense continued its struggles on offense Friday night at Park Hills Central. The Bearcats football team had multiple opportunities to score its first points in three weeks, but Dayshawn Welch and the Park Hills Central Rebels were too much, defeating the Bearcats 20-0 in a Class 3 District 1 first-round matchup...

BERNIE — Bernie senior Alyson Marcum committed June 19 to play softball for Florida SouthWestern State in Fort Myers, Florida, and signed her letter of intent Friday at Bernie High School. The Buccaneers produced the NJCAA Division I Softball Pitcher of the Year in 2016 (Courtney Getting) and 2019 (Kelsi Collins). 2016 was the program’s first season. They were ranked No. 1 in the country for most of last season, finished 54-3 and won their fourth straight Suncoast Conference championship, going 19-1.