By Morgan Bryce
Staff Reporter
Beulah’s season ended in a 47-33 shootout loss at Holtville Friday night.
The Bobcats finished their season with a 2-4 record in region play, and 3-7 overall record.
Senior quarterback Nolan Earle went out with a bang, passing for 238 yards and three touchdowns, and added 81 yards on 12 carries for two more scores.
Earle’s fellow seniors Tez Turner and David Fell combined for 14 receptions for 180 yards and three TDs in their final outing for the Bobcats.
Defensively, Beulah was torched through the air, allowing 378 passing yards to Bulldogs quarterback Drake Baker. Junior linebacker Caden Dowdell led the defense with 12 tackles (two for a loss) and a sack, and Fell, Turner and Jackson Blanton finished with six tackles each.
In a season marred by a slew of injuries to key players and inability to close out games, Beulah head football coach Cody Flournoy said he believes the program is on the right track heading into the offseason.
“This game was kind of like our season. You saw signs of us doing some really good stuff, and there was also signs of us not executing or not playing our best football,” Flournoy said. “Going into the offseason, we’re looking at it this way: we just want to be more competitive, more disciplined and build a solid program so that in close games like these, we can come out on top.”
In Flournoy’s first season, his team won two more games than the past two seasons combined, which were both 1-9 campaigns. Additionally, the Bobcats were only outscored on average 28.0 – 24.6 per game, its smallest point differential in nearly a decade.
Flournoy acknowledged that most of these benchmarks would not have been possible without his deep, talent-laden senior core.
“I hate losing them after one season. I’ve been here six months now and they were guys that worked hard, bought in right away,” Flournoy said. “It would have been great to have a full offseason and spring training with these guys, but I wish them the best because they will forever be my first class as a head coach. I couldn’t’ have asked for them to do anything else than what they did … they were a good athletic group and they played hard, and gave us a chance to win each week.”