By Jason king
Leader sports writer
BATESVILLE – Beebe’s bid to become conference champion for the first time in 13 years and make a perfect run through the 5A-East Conference fell six minutes short as Batesville scored a late touchdown to win 17-13 on Friday at Pioneer Stadium.
The Badgers (6-4, 6-1) dominated the third quarter and appeared to have a handle on the Pioneers’ running game, led by sophomore sensation Jordan Childress. But Batesville (10-0, 7-0) stopped a Beebe drive near midfield to start the fourth quarter and began a 55-yard march that decided it.
“We knew their defense was tough coming in, and we struggled to move the football,” Beebe coach John Shannon said. “But we put a drive together to start the third quarter and got a score, and the defense played lights out in the third quarter, and most of the fourth quarter.
We put them in a bind, and they rose to the occasion.
“You give a good team enough chances, and they’re going to capitalize. I’m proud of our guys; they never quit. They fought all the way to the end.
Jay Holdway set the Badgers up with good field position to start the second half when he returned Batesville’s kickoff to the Pioneer 38-yard line.
Quarterback Scot Gowen moved the ball near the red zone with a 12-yard run, and Michael Kirby finished the drive six plays later with a five-yard touchdown run up the middle to give Beebe its first and only lead, 13-10. Jordan Goss’s extra-point attempt was blocked.
Beebe’s defense dug in and stopped Batesville’s ensuing drive, as the Pioneers went for a pass on fourth down and came up short. But the turnover on downs was only a prelude to the bedlam that would ensue for the remainder of the third quarter.
Beebe had to punt at its 31, but the snap to punter Colby Taylor was low, allowing Chance Rogers to block the kick for the Pioneers while teammate Grant Arnold came in for the recovery.
Batesville’s fourth down resulted in a 36-yard field goal attempt and the Badgers’ Chase Weatherly blocked the kick.
But Beebe was forced to punt again and couldn’t keep Batesville down.
“We never could get those first downs going to keep their offense off the field, and it came back to bite us,” Shannon said. “Their offense is a good offense, they found a way to score, hats off to them.”
Childress played the workhorse role to near perfection for Batesville on its game-opening scoring drive.
The drive was capped with a 23-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Bailey to senior receiver Matthew Showalter with 7:16 left to play in the first quarter following the successful point-after try.
“He’s a sophomore, he’s a heck of a back, and unfortunately, we have to see him the next two years,” Shannon said of Childress, who had 39 carries for 179 yards and one touchdown.
Taylor led Beebe with 17 carries for 58 yards.
The Badgers caught their first big break of the first half when Reece Totty recovered a Bailey fumble at the Batesville 3.
Gowen threw incomplete to Matt Pursell on first down before calling his own number on second down and running 34 yards for the score with 4:52 left in the half. Goss added the extra point to tie the game at 7-7.
The Pioneers caught one last break of their own just before the half when Childress fumbled but was ruled down at the Beebe 3. The Badgers forced a 27-yard field goal to end the half 10-7.
