By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The Beebe Badgers scored early and often in a mercy ruled 54-26 victory at Paragould to open 5A East Conference play on the good side of the win column.
It was a good night for sophomore fullback Eric Thorn, who punished the Rams’ defense with 185 rushing yards on just 13 carries, three of which went for touchdowns.
“Our offense played really well tonight,” Badgers coach John Shannon said. “Paragould, hats off to them, their offense was improved, and they moved the ball tonight. It was a breakout game for Eric Thorn, he finally carried for over a hundred yards, and of course, Jay (Holdway) was solid as usual. The offensive line played well. Overall, I was pleased.”
Holdway had five carries the entire night, but made the most of his totes with 71 yards and two touchdowns, one of which went 49 yards.
Senior quarterback Dustin Stallnacker had five rushes for 72 yards and three touchdowns. Stallnacker scored on a 32-yard touchdown run, another for 23 yards and another for 11 yards.
The Badgers (3-1, 1-0) took a 21-7 lead through one quarter and held a 41-12 advantage at the half. Beebe scored twice more in the third quarter to activate the sportsmanship clock rule before the Rams scored two more times late.
“The defense has been playing really well up until tonight,” Shannon said. “We did well in the second half – I can’t explain why we didn’t in the first half. You just have nights like that sometimes.”
The Badgers finished with 380 yards on 23 total rushes, and scored eight times while acquiring only five first downs. The Rams (0-4, 0-1) had 328 total yards with 43 carries for 292 yards, and also completed 2 of 7 pass attempts for 36 yards.
