By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Two local teams will square off this Friday when North Pulaski hosts Beebe at Falcon stadium in the second week of 5A-East Conference action. The Badgers will bring in a 3-1 record and 1-0 conference record after a wild shootout with Paragould last week.
A Robbie Puckett TD run with 40 seconds left broke a tie for the Badgers and allowed them to squeak out the close win. The Falcons only played one half of football last week, as stormy weather forced the cancellation of the remainder of their game against Greene County Tech after the Eagles built a 28-0 lead in the first half.
Despite a 0-4 record, Beebe coach Cam Prock says there is not one aspect of the North Pulaski team that his Badgers will take lightly on Friday. “It’s really surprising to me that they haven’t won yet,” Prock said. “You look at their line, and they have a lot of big, strong players up there. They have a lot of speed in the backfield. You see them on film, and it’s not like there’s not any talent there. They can put it together at any time, so we will definitely have to be ready.”
Despite offensive troubles for the Badgers throughout most of the early season, Prock was encouraged by what he saw in the last half of the Paragould game. Beebe came away with five touchdowns during the last 24 minutes to have what is by far its most productive half of the season.
“It’s been a pattern where we had one good play, and then two bad ones out of the three that would just kill the drive,” Prock said. “We started making good drives in the second half last week and started moving the football.”
North Pulaski head coach Tony Bohannon knows the potential danger of Beebe’s spread offense, and says his team is doing everything necessary to prepare for the Badgers this week. “They’re well-coached, disciplined, score a lot of points, you name it,” Bohannon said. “Paragould thought they had a run on them last week, and next thing you know, they’re scoring points on them.”
Bohannon says that even though the record for the Falcons is similar at this point in the season as last year, the attitudes at North Pulaski High School are not. “There just seems to be a lot more school spirit this year,” Bohannon said. “We are only one day into our homecoming week, but you can tell by the activities during the day that the kids have more spirit this year. Our JV team is playing well. They are 2-2 so far, and anytime you can get a W anywhere, it helps. We’re hoping that some of these little things will add up and help them play better on Friday.”
The Badgers and Falcons will get things underway at 7:30 on Friday in Jacksonville at NPHS.
