By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Beebe came up short on three separate trips to the red zone and fell to Wynne in a 12-0 shutout at Yellowjacket Stadium on Friday.
The Badgers (4-2, 2-1) had their opportunities during a third quarter in which they dominated time of possession, but the Yellowjackets (5-1, 3-0) did not break after bending on defense most of the second half.
“We played an outstanding game on defense,” Beebe coach John Shannon said. “We came in with a great plan on defense and the kids executed that plan. But offense, I don’t know, I mean, we just couldn’t punch it through.
“We had opportunity after opportunity, but we had a penalty here and messed a block up there. You can throw out every excuse in the world, but the bottom line is that we didn’t get the job done.”
The Badgers reached the Wynne 5-yard line on their opening drive of the second half before they eventually stalled on downs. But they forced the ’Jackets to go three and out, and took their next drive all the way to the 3-yard line before a string of penalties backed them up and took them out of scoring position.
Marquez Turner was Wynne’s go-to guy on offense with 12 carries for 59 yards and four receptions for 28 yards, and scored the first of the Yellowjackets’ two touchdowns on a three-yard run with 14 seconds left in the first quarter.
There was no other score until the ’Jackets defense intercepted Beebe senior quarterback Dustin Stallnacker and returned it 20 yards to set the final margin.
Wynne had 164 passing yards and 36 rushing yards, while the Badgers had 177 total yards on 53 team rushes, led by Stallnacker’s 14 carries for 62 yards.
Beebe hosts Blytheville next week.
