Beech ended the night with almost 300 rushing yards as three players rushed for more than 75 yards each led by Jalen Hurd, who had 116 yards on 16 carries with three touchdowns.

“I think anytime you can rush for almost 300 yards you have to feel good about your chances,” said Beech Coach Anthony Crabtree. “I wasn’t even aware we had three guys that rushed for that much until after the game, but I did feel like we did a good job of running the ball.”

Dorian Carter also had 85 yards on 16 carries with a touchdown, and Stephen Beech added another 78 yards on nine carries. Clarksville received the opening kickoff and the Buccaneer defense stood tall, forcing a three and out, giving them the ball on their own 40 yard line.

Four plays later, Beech was in the endzone for the first time as Hurd carried it for the final four yards and the score to make it 7-0 with 9:18 to play in the first quarter. The Wildcats answered with a 12 play drive that covered 75 yards, but had to be satisfied with a 27 yard field goal, cutting the lead to 7-3 with just 3:56 left in the quarter.

Beech was forced to punt on its next series, but the Buccaneers defense held once again and forced the second punt of the game by the Wildcats. Marquis Kingcade blocked the punt, giving Beech the ball on the Clarksville 24 yard line. That’s all Hurd needed, taking it 24 yards into pay dirt on the first play from scrimmage to put the Buccaneers in front 14-3 at the end of the first quarter.

Clarksville again tried to answer and set up for a field goal attempt, but just as he did on the punt before, Kingcade blocked the attempt to end the scoring drive. Beech took over at the Wildcat 38 yard line, and five plays later Carter took it in from eight yards out to put the Buccaneers up 21-3.

The Beech defense again took center stage on the next series when Hunter Stewart intercepted a pass on the third play of the drive to give the Buccaneers one last shot to score before the halftime break.

It didn’t take long for Beech to get back into the endzone as Lincoln Kenitzer hit Alec Meadows for a 33 yard scoring strike to account for the last score of the half, putting the Buccaneers up 27-3 after a missed extra point.

Clarksville cut into the lead in the third quarter when Grant Girsky came up with the 55 yard pass from Austin Kilcullen to make it 27-10. Hurd helped put the game away with his 11 yard touchdown run with just 3:57 left in the game to put Beech up 34-10.

Clarksville refused to go away as Dallin Bridges was on the receiving end of a 20 yard pass from Devin Rodriquez, but the two point try failed, making it 34-16. The Wildcats successfully recovered an onside kick. Rodriquez hit Byran Neely for a five yard pass for the score, but again the two point conversion failed to make it 34-22 as the game came to an end.

“I think overall we did a pretty good job tonight in about every phase of the game, but I just wish we had done a better job defensively in the second half,” said Crabtree. “We know we’re going to have to play better next week if we’re going to move on, but at this point of the season it’s just about surviving and moving on.

“We were able to do that and look forward to our game next week.”

Beech will host Station Camp in their second match-up of the season Friday night at the Shackle Island Stadium.

by Chris Lynn