Rick Lanier
Opelika Observer
The Beauregard faithful came together to salute the senior class of football players, on a beautiful Friday night in Lee County, with cheerleaders and band members in a pre-game ceremony held at Richard L. Brown Field. A buzz was in the air as proud parents, loved ones and mentors gathered to escort their seniors onto the field in tribute of their academic and extra-curricular accomplishments and to cheer on their Hornets as they hosted the Volunteers from Central of Clay County in an important Class 5A Region 4 conference game.
The senior Hornets were looking for another big week. They understood the importance of finding a way to capitalize on the momentum gained from last week’s come-from-behind victory if they were to catch lightning in a bottle once again. To win, they understood they would have to execute at a very high level in all three phases, win the turnover battle and minimize penalties if they were going to knock-off the undefeated Volunteers.
The first quarter was almost flawless as Beauregard’s inspired offense and defense looked ready for the challenge, matching Central of Clay County play-for-play. Things would change late in the first quarter, however, as RB Landon Hodges appeared to have rolled his ankle while being tackled. His injury, and the subsequent limited playing time afterwards, not only affected the offense, but the defense as well as Hodges, like others, is a two-way player for the Hornets. Both the offense and defense were able to make the necessary adjustments as the quarter ended with the Volunteers leading the Hornets 6-0.
The second quarter and beyond would prove to be a different story. A couple more banged-up Hornets pitted against the depth of the 80-player Volunteer team, then throw in some momentum killing penalties (11 for 85 yards) and it is easy to see how things managed to get out of hand rather quickly. The Hornets kept playing hard, kept playing together guided by the senior leadership on each side of the ball, it just wasn’t enough. By halftime, the Volunteers would go on to score three more times amassing 232 total yards of offense and increasing their lead to 30-0.
The second half was more of the same. The Hornets were unable to mount a comeback as before since they were thin at key positions due to injury and youth, but there were some bright spots for the Hornets to build on. The Hornets managed 130 total yards (48 passing and 82 rushing) of offense by the end of the gme, with sophomore QB Kyan Maloy calling the signals and engineering an impressive drive to set up RB Carlton Harris for Beauregard’s only score late in the fourth quarter.
“Our two-way players got tired and we just ran out of gas,” Head Coach Rob Carter said at his post-game interview. “They have so much depth and they are a solid football team. Lots of good things happened tonight, but we have to get some things fixed and try to get better.”
The Hornets travel to Russell County on Friday, Sept. 25 to take on the Warriors at 7 p.m. CST. Russell County High School is located at 4699 Old Seale Hwy, Seale, AL 36875.
Correction
Last week’s article “FIN-A-LLY! Beauregard Gets First Win of Season,” reported in error that freshman quarterback Trent Molten and wide receiver Kam Robinson combined on a 70 yard touchdown pass for Beauregard’s first points of the game. Instead, the quarterback and wide receiver tandem was Gavin Prickett and K.J. Malloy respectively. The Observer regrets any inconvenience.