Bearden falls to West, turns attention to Catholic

West got on the board with an early touchdown, and Bearden was not able to fully recover and earn its third win in as many weeks. Bearden held a West offense that has often run rampant over opposing defenses (including Maryville’s) this year, but they could not find quite enough on offense in the 24-17 loss on Friday. “We have a great defense this year and I am proud of the way we all played, but you just can’t win them all,” senior defensive tackle Gage Webb said, “although we did hold them to less points than Maryville did.” Bearden (7-2, 4-2 District 4-AAA) now looks forward to its final regular season game of the year when it hosts Catholic (4-5, 2-4) on Friday night at 7:30 (TV: tssaanetwork.com/bearden) with playoff seeding at stake. “We just have to get back to work,” Coach Brad Taylor said. “We have to start preparing for Catholic tomorrow at practice and send our seniors off the best way possible and then prepare for the playoffs.” In last Friday’s game, West received the first score of the game with a touchdown by Jake Whitfield and led Bearden 7-0 until the second quarter when senior Christian Robinson caught a pass from senior quarterback Nicky Frizen tying it 7-7. Still in the second quarter, West (7-2, 4-2) fumbled on a kickoff return and Bearden recovered, but this momentum was not held for long because two minutes later the Rebels got another touchdown by Seth Marshal and led 14-7. “We are going to have to come out a lot faster next week, and quit worrying about ourselves as individuals and focus on the whole team,” Robinson said. At the start of the fourth quarter Frizen was shaken up with a shoulder injury but quickly recovered and was able to complete a 30 yard touchdown to senior Hunter Johnson tying the game 17-17. A rocky fourth quarter for Bearden started with a failed fourth down conversion. Although West was forced to punt, the Rebels were able to recover a fumble by Bearden on their own 12-yard line and eventually scored the game winning touchdown. Trent Waters came back from an ankle injury that kept him out of last week’s game against Heritage, but linebacker Jake Jolley sat out with a boot from an injury to his left foot. Brooke Williams is a staff writer for The Bark. Follow The Bark on Twitter@BeardenBARK and like The Bark (Bearden High School) on Facebook.