By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Time management didn’t work for Beebe against a fast-scoring Camden Fairview team Friday. The Cardinals used big offensive plays to down the Badgers 56-17 in the quarterfinal round of the Class 5A state playoffs at Cardinal Stadium in Camden.
With the victory, Camden Fair-view, 11-1, will face Greenwood next week in the semifinals in a rematch of last year’s 5A state championship game in which the Bulldogs won in a 36-35 thriller.
Beebe, 7-5, carried out its usual strategy of sustained offensive drives but came up short with most of their first-half efforts. Junior running back Michael Kirby found his way into the end zone twice in the hird quarter on a pair of one-yard runs, but the scores occurred after the Cardinals had the contest well in hand.
“We knew they had the ability to score quick,” Beebe coach John Shannon said. “Their athletic ability took over. Wasn’t a whole lot we could do about it, but the kids played hard, and I’m proud of them for that.”
The Cardinals struck fast on their opening possession with a five-play, 67-yard drive that put Camden Fairview quarterback Austin Booth’s ability in the air on display. The senior hit Jamie Smith for a 33-yard completion to take the ball into Badger territory at the 30-yard line. Booth then found Derrick Keaton on a screen pass that Keaton took the distance for the score with 8:56 remaining in the first quarter to give Camden Fairview a 7-0 lead.
The Badgers answered with a long drive that went 12 plays and took the ball from the Beebe 24-yard line to the Cardinal 18 before an incompletion by senior quarterback Dustin Stallnaker brought up fourth down. Senior kicker Matt Pursell then put up Beebe’s only points of the first half with a 37-yard field goal with 1:56 left to play in the first quarter to make it 7-3 Cardinals.
The Badger defense held on Camden Fairview’s next drive and forced the offense to stall out on downs at the Beebe 44-yard line in just four plays. That set the Badgers up with their best starting field position of the night, and they drove into Cardinal territory with runs by Jay Holdway, Jeremy Van Winkle and Kirby, who converted a third-and-inches play to set Beebe up with a new set of downs at the Camden Fairview 34-yard line.
But their luck ran out on the next set of downs as the Cardinals stopped Kirby just short of the markers on fourth and two.
That gave Camden Fairview possession deep in its own territory, and the Badgers stopped a pair of quarterback draws by Booth to set up a third and nine at the 25. But Jerry Moorehead stepped under center on third down and completed a pass to Dominique Reed for a 75-yard touchdown with 4:52 remaining in the first half. The successful extra-point put the Cardinals up 14-3. Moorehead took most of the snaps in the second half in place of Booth, who is still not fully recovered from an injury he sustained in the regular season.
Beebe went three and out on its next possession, and Stallnaker’s punt set the Cardinals up with a first down at their own 37-yard line. Booth found Smith for a touchdown pass on first down, but the play was called back on an illegal block.
The flag did little to slow them down, however, as Keaton pushed the ball into Badger territory on the next play with a 33-yard run, and Moorehead stepped under center again for another touchdown pass. This one was also to Reed, this time for 18 yards and another score to push the margin to 21-3 with 2:03 left in the first half.
Beebe helped the Cardinals out with another score just before the half when a high snap to punter Stallnaker on fourth down ended up on the turf, setting Camden Fairview up with a first down at the Badger 7-yard line with 1:15 remaining.
It took one run by Reed to punch it in, giving the Cardinals a 28-3 lead at the break.
Holdway led the Badgers with 18 carries for 85 yards. Kirby finished with 18 carries for 70 yards and two touchdowns, as the Badgers finished with 324 total yards compared to 455 for Camden Fairview.
The Badgers reached the quarterfinals for the second time in Shannon’s five-year tenure at Beebe. Shannon, who has expressed a desire to develop Beebe football into an elite program, said his seniors will be leaving the program in better shape than their arrival three seasons ago.
“I told the seniors that they had taken us to another level,” Shannon said. “They did things that we haven’t done in a long, long time. This year, we won a road playoff game to get to the quarterfinals, so I feel like we’ve taken a step in the right direction.”
