BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
BEULAH — Beulah High School smothered several comeback attempts with a powerful rushing attack, earning a 47-31 home opener victory over LaFayette High School at Bobcat Stadium on Aug. 21.
Brody Peacock stole the show for the Bobcats (1-0), rushing 19 times for 102 yards and four touchdowns. Kason Kalla added 97 yards and two TDs on 10 carries, and Tristen Robinson finished with five carries for 107 yards and a TD.
As a team, Beulah ran the ball 42 times for 349 yards — an 8.3-yard rushing average — and seven TDs.
Demetrius Harrington completed 20 of 30 passes for 253 yards and two TDs, Jay Whitlow rushed 17 times for 76 yards and two TDs and Trae Patton recorded nine tackles and a tackle for loss for the Bulldogs (0-1).
Beulah head coach Michael Courson said his team had the character required to compete in tough games like last Friday’s, and that they displayed it when the going got toughest.
“We felt like we had some command, and then that third quarter kind of got away from us,” Courson said. “To be able to close it out in the fourth quarter by fighting through that adversity, and coming out here and handling ourselves the right way, that means a lot. That’s the standard we’re pushing, and these guys are accepting that. We won this first game, and now hopefully there’s some carryover into next week.”
“Man, it feels good against our rival,” Peacock said. “They’ve been talking a lot, all the internet stuff, so we just came out and showed them who’s really the dog and whose house this is. We came to protect our home, and we did that.”
Harrison Grant stepped in front of a Bulldog receiver and snagged an interception that initially appeared to be a 71-yard pick-six with 8:42 left in the first quarter, but a block-in-the-back penalty negated the return. Roughly two minutes later, Peacock got Beulah on the board first with a bruising 25-yard TD run off right tackle.
The Bulldogs quickly struck back, with Whitlow returning the kickoff down to the Beulah 46-yard line. Whitlow ultimately capitalized on his earlier big play with a physical 2-yard TD run to tie the game 7-7 with 4:20 left in the first quarter.
Then, Zaqarious Jackson provided the game’s most electric moment with a 90-yard pick-six less than two minutes later to give LaFayette a 13-7 lead after the PAT was no good.
That was the last time the Bulldogs led.
From there, Peacock took over the rest of the first half with two consecutive rushing touchdowns. The first came as time expired at the end of the first quarter to tie the game 13-13, and the other came several minutes into the second quarter.
A 1-yard TD plunge from Kalla and a successful two-point conversion pass to Tristen Robinson put Beulah up 27-13 with 4:18 left before halftime.
However, LaFayette was not done. After showing some promise offensively early in the third quarter and getting a stop defensively, the Bulldogs cut into Beulah’s lead when Whitlow found paydirt with a 6-yard scamper through the heart of the Bobcats’ defense.
With Beulah now leading 27-19 with 5:02 left in the third quarter, the situation quickly became more dire for the Bobcats. Kemare Harrington, who caught nine passes for 77 yards and a TD, got LaFayette to within two points after snagging an 8-yard TD catch less than a minute into the fourth quarter.
According to Peacock, it was around that time that he rallied his teammates to not let the game slip away from them.
“Talking to my teammates, I encouraged them to get back in the game and told them to not put their heads down,” Peacock said. “You can’t let one play define who you are. There’s more plays left, so you have to move on to the next one. That’s really it: prepare for the next play.”
Peacock, with a powerful 6-yard run off left tackle less than four minutes later, gave Beulah some breathing room by putting the Bobcats up 33-25 after the two-point conversion attempt was no good.
Beulah quickly tacked on an insurance score as Robinson blasted off tackle for a 23-yard TD run with 4:42 left in the game to put Beulah up 40-25.
Despite the growing deficit, Zephi Madden kept the Bulldogs within plausible striking distance with a quick-strike 75-yard TD reception that saw him high point the deep ball and split two Bobcats 22 seconds after Robinson’s TD for Beulah.
Madden proved to be arguably LaFayette’s most versatile player, finishing with two receptions for 97 yards and the TD to go with six tackles and one tackle for loss.
Kalla then ended any chance of the Bulldogs closing the gap late, capping off a grueling drive with a 5-yard TD run off a read option with 1:04 left to play.
Despite the difficult result, LaFayette head coach Douglas Jones Jr. said he was proud of his team’s resilience and fight in the second half.
“We told the guys we had to dig in because we [weren’t] out of the game. I’m happy we didn’t give up,” Jones said. “I think it’s something we can build off of. We just have to keep rising above adversity and persevere. We’ll let this loss be what it is and move forward next week.”
The Bobcats will travel to New Site to take on Horseshoe Bend High School on Friday, Aug. 28. The Generals are coming off a 46-13 road defeat to Wadley High School.
The Bulldogs are hosting Beauregard High School, also on Aug. 28. The Hornets are coming off a 28-0 home loss to Reeltown High School.
