Sports

WHITE HALL TOPS BEEBE

By Josh Tinker/COMMERCIAL SPORTS EDITOR
Saturday, October 31, 2009 1:48 AM CDT

BEEBE — This time, speed won out over slow and steady.

White Hall running back Larry Walls (5) powers his way past Beebe defenders in White Hall’s 41-20 win on Friday. SPECIAL TO THE COMMERCIAL/MARILYN COOK.

Playing on a muddy, slow surface at Beebe’s “Bro” Erwin Stadium, White Hall coach Mike Vaughn wasn’t sure if his team would be able to use its speed advantage over the more powerful Badgers rushing attack. Bulldog rushers Matt Taylor and A.J. Richardson made sure they did, as each ran for long touchdowns in the second quarter to secure a 41-20 victory over Beebe in a critical 5A-Southeast Conference showdown at Beebe.

“We knew they had a lot of speed coming in, and that’s been one of our weak points,” said Beebe coach John Shannon, of White Hall. “We knew we were going to have trouble stopping them.”

Even without Larry Walls, the school’s all-time leading rusher, who exited in the second quarter with a hamstring injury and didn’t return, the Bulldogs were too quick for the Badgers, using that speed to turn what was a nail-biter into a one-sided affair in a span of about 2 minutes.

With the Badgers (3-6, 3-3 5A-Southeast) holding a 1-point advantage, Richardson rushed about 60 yards for a touchdown. Then, after White Hall (7-2, 5-1) forced Beebe to a three-and-out, quarterback Taylor rushed 52 yards untouched up the middle for another score to turn what had been a 14-13 Beebe lead into a 27-14 game in favor of White Hall.

White Hall coach Mike Vaughn said the score was a big confidence boost for Taylor, who missed three games because of a dislocated kneecap suffered during a Week 2 loss to Watson Chapel, and has had his time at quarterback limited since then.

“His confidence just soars right up,” Vaughn said.

The Bulldogs, who increased their lead to 41-14 on Richardson TD runs of 26 and 20 yards on consecutive possessions in the fourth quarter, wouldn’t lead by less than two touchdowns the rest of the way.

“A.J. Richardson is our bell cow,” Vaughn said. “He played quarterback some. He played halfback. He started at safety. He can go. He’s extremely strong. When you see him with his shirt off he’s just cut. He’s probably up to 170 (pounds). And he runs flat-footed. You watch him run in that mud and he’s able to cut and it doesn’t bother him.”

Shannon said there was no drop-off in talent from Walls to Richardson, who both play tailback for the Bulldogs.

“It’s tough when you don’t have speed to match it,” Shannon said. “That’s the biggest difference between their offense and our defense is the speed factor. (Richardson) is just as good as (Walls).”

Beebe had its chances to cut into the lead in the fourth quarter, but turnovers ended the threat each time.

The first came on a Phillip Etheridge interception that led to Richardson’s 26-yard score, and the second on a fumble recovery that led to Richardson’s 20-yard score in which he dove into the top-left pylon while falling out of bounds. Richardson rushed for 86 yards in the second half.

“Those hurt us big time,” Shannon said. “If we could have got those in it’s a closer ballgame. Hats off to their defense. Their defense plays outstanding.”

White Hall will play Little Rock Mills in a game that will determine the No. 2 seed from the 5A-Southeast next week. A loss will make the Bulldogs the No. 3 seed.

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