Flood of touchdowns overwhelms Bearden, 42-14

Bearden will head into its final regular season game of the year against Catholic trying to recover from a 42-14 loss to West on Friday night. West running back Robbie Flood finished with five of the Rebels’ touchdowns. The Bulldogs (5-4, 3-3) got some good news about the status of junior fullback Jake Jolley, who was taken off the field on a stretcher during a 20-minute delay on Friday. Jolley was diagnosed with a concussion, but he was back at school Monday. As loud as the West fans were, the Bulldogs chants “Play for Jake!” won over and gave Bearden a little momentum in the third quarter as junior running back Trent Waters put the Dogs on the board with a 20-yard touchdown run which made the score 28-7. “It was rough because we are all just a big family and it’s like seeing a brother go down,” junior Zack Messing said. “We think he is okay, but we will keep him in everybody’s prayers.” Although Waters accounted for most of the Dogs offensive successes with 136 yards on 11 carries he was out done by West’s (7-2, 4-2) balanced attack, which rushed for 180 yards and had 186 yards through the air. “We knew that they were a good football team,” Bearden head coach Brad Taylor said. “I was surprised at how much more team speed that they had than us, and I thought that they were faster and more physical, which is a pretty lethal combination on the football field.” West’s Anthony Bright scored on a 44-yard touchdown run early in the first quarter, and quarterback Ryan Francis followed that with a swing pass to running back Flood, who took off for a 65-yard touchdown. “We challenged our kids all week to play a first quarter, which we haven’t done the last few games,” West head coach Scott Cummings said. “(Bearden is) just young right now and we’re just fortunate right now to have more experience. You know it’s just one of those nights where our experience and their youth led to the outcome.” Bearden’s lack of experience on defense proved costly and needs to improve as the Bulldogs head into the playoffs. “We competed, we just needed to make more plays,” Coach Taylor said. “Bottom line is the faster team wins.” Bearden hopes to be faster and better than Catholic (3-6) on the road this Friday night.