By Rick Lanier
Opelika Observer
Last Friday night, alumni from Beauregard High School classes of 1980, 2000 and 2010 filled Hornet Stadium to celebrate their 40, 20 and 10-year homecoming reunions, respectively. They came to reminisce with Hornets from years past, to watch the pageantry of this year’s homecoming celebration and to cheer on their football team for their final home game of the 2019 season.
After an auspicious start, the Hornets would not disappoint, as they totally dominated the game to snap their eight-game losing streak and easily handle the Carroll (Ozark) Eagles 46-22.
On the Hornet’s first possession, quarterback Cason Blackmon scrambled to his right under pressure and threw a floater that was picked off by the Eagle’s safety on the Hornet’s 42- yard line. Three plays later, the Eagles found pay dirt over right tackle to take a 7-0 lead.
However, on the Hornet’s next possession, Blackmon marched the Hornets down field in quick fashion. On 2nd-and-7, Blackmon took the snap, stood up and fired a laser to the speedy Jaion Goodson on a slant, who took it 19 yards for the score. The point-after try was no good as Beauregard closed the gap to 7-6.
On Carroll’s first possession of the second quarter, Hornet defensive end K.J. Malloy made a jarring tackle on an Eagle running back, forcing a fumble that was scooped up by Hornet’s linebacker Cameron Hodges who raced 60 yards for another Beauregard score to make the score 13-7 – the Hornets never looked back from there.
Late in the second quarter, Blackmon again rolled to his right under pressure, but this time, he found Hornet receiver Tyler Gordon in the back of the end zone for a 36-yard touchdown to give Beauregard a 20-7 lead. By the end of the first half, Beauregard had rushed for 93 yards, passed for 102 more, scored 20 points and held their opponent to seven points.
The second half proved to be more of the same. Carroll took the kickoff and was driving deep into Beauregard territory when the Eagles quarterback fumbled and Justin Smith pounced on it to put the Hornets back in business. Eight plays later, running back Ashton Moss took the hand-off, jump-cut to his left and scored on an 11-yard scamper to put the Hornets ahead 26-7.
After a three-and-out defensive stand by the Hornets, they put together an impressive 10-play drive capped off by Blackmon’s one-yard quarterback sneak. Hodges raced around right end for a successful two-point conversion and Beauregard’s lead was stretched to 34-7.
As Coach Rob Carter began making wholesale substitutions on both sides of the ball, the Beauregard faithful might have caught a glimpse of the future when quarterback Kyan Malloy entered the game and scored on runs of 39 and 33 yards on consecutive possessions.
“It was a great win and to win it like we did. I’m just so happy for those kids who worked their tails off every day. We told them to keep working, good things are coming and they never gave up,” Carter said.
Beauregard travels to Tallassee High School to take on the Tallassee Tigers on Oct. 25 for their final game of the season. Tiger Stadium is located at 502 Barnett Blvd. in Tallassee.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.