By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Beebe’s Friday night game at Little Rock Christian Academy was almost a deja vu performance. Last week at Beebe, the Badgers played Wynne tough through the first half, going into the third quarter tied, before Wynne dominated the rest of the way.
Last night in west Little rock, the Badgers went toe-to-toe with the Warriors into the start of the fourth quarter, with the match tied 28-28 before the Warriors reeled off 20 in a row for a 48-28 victory
Little Rock Christian pulled ahead early in the fourth pushing out to a 42-28 lead. Then with about 37 seconds left in the game the Warriors had the ball on the 50-yard line and then got somewhat un-Christina.
Rather than taking a knee or two and sending Beebe home with a loss, Warrior quarterback Jackson Bowersock threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Trey Harris. And if that wasn’t enough, they tried a two-point conversion to get to the 50-point mark, but Beebe put a stop to that to set the final margin.
The Warriors scored first in the game, hitting the end zone with less than two minutes of the game gone behind runs by Bowersock and running back Kendal Givens.
The Badgers responded on a long drive going 70 yards in six minutes behind the strong, grinding out yards running of Anthony Khalil, Taylor Boyce and Connor Bieker. Khalil set up the Badger’s with a 32-yard run, taking the ball down to the Warriors’ three-yard line. A play later he punched it in. The point-after try by Jaime Rodriquez was good and the score was tied.
Beebe set up its next score just as the first quarter was expiring with a 20-yard pass from C.J. Cauldwell to Alex Boyce, putting high where only Boyce could grab it.
The Badger had the ball on the eight-yard line to open the second quarter and worked it to the one where Khalil powered his way in. Another good PAT and Beebe had a 14-7 lead.
The Warriors, getting the ball on their own 23-yard line came out passing. Bowersock threw two in a row and tried it a third time, but with no one covered, he ducked and ran to the Badger’s 32-yard line. Another pass brought it to the 25. Bowersock then handed off to Justice Hill who hit Chris Hightower in the end zone. The score was tied, 14-14, with 8 minutes to go in the half.
Like two heavyweights trading blows, it was now Beebe’s turn to score. Getting the ball on their own 27-yard line the Badger running pounded and grinded out the yardage 3 or 4 yards at a time. But Khalil did break lose for a 20-yard gain and Taylor Boyce surged forward for another 16-yards and then pulled off another 20-yard dash.
With the ball on the one and third down Cauldwell scored on a keeper. A good PAT and Beebe was looking good, ahead 21-14 with three minutes left in the half.
But it was the Warriors turn to swing for the goal line and then made less than 60 seconds later, scoring on a 5-yard pass from Bowersock to Chris Hightower.
Both teams went into at halftime tied 21-21.
Beebe had won the toss at the beginning of the game and opted to open the third quarter receiving the ball. The Warriors tried an onside kick, one of many both times executed during the game. This one went the Warriors way at least for one play. On a run to the right side, the Warriors fumbled and Beebe recovered on their own 30 but just couldn’t get anything going.
Just as I looked like the Warriors were going momentum to take the lead again, Gage House intercepted a pass from Bowersock at the 48-yard line. But Beebe couldn’t turn the turnover into a score.
With just under seven minutes to go, the Warriors scored on a 33-yard pass play from Bowersock to MJ Loggins, going ahead, 28-21 and the third quarter ended on that score.
Beebe pushed the ball to the six-yard line before time had expired behind runs by Khali and Taylor Boyce.
Forty seconds into the fourth quarter Cauldwell took it the middle and crossed into the end zone standing up. The score was 28-28, but then it changed quickly. In the last 11 minutes of the game the Warriors put up 21 points against Beebe.
The first of those points came at the 9:23 mark behind runs by Hill and Bowersock despite a strong open field tackle by Taylor Boyce early in that drive.
Beebe worked the ball down the field and looked like it was going to tie things up again, but stalled on the 15-yard line. The team went for it on fourth down, needing five yards, but only got four. Little Rock Christian took over on downs at the 11. Harris took a three-yard pass from Bowersock and turned it into a 90-yard touchdown score, pulling the Warriors way out in front at 42-28.
The Badgers started driving again, but was spotted when a rare pass from Cauldwell was intercepted by the Warriors’ #55. Little Rock Christian scored its final touchdown on a 50-yard pass.
Beebe falls to 2-3 and will play top seeded Pulaski Academy at home next Friday. The Warriors upped their record to 5-0.