LR Christian surges
Jackson Bowersock threw a pair of late touchdown passes of 90 and 47 yards and accounted for 5 total scores to help Little Rock Christian secure a 48-28 victory over Beebe in Friday night’s 5A-East Conference opener. The Badgers had tied the game at 21-21 at the half and 28-28 early in the fourth quarter before the Warriors pulled away.
Jackson Bowersock accounted for five touchdowns total, including a pair of late touchdown receptions to Trey Harris to help the Little Rock Christian Warriors secure a 48-28 victory over the Beebe Badgers Friday night in west Little Rock.
After the Warriors’ defense made a fourth-quarter fourth-down stop in a onescore game, Bowersock and Harris connected on a 90yard scoring play with 4:25 remaining. They connected again for a 47-yard score with just 11 seconds left. Harris was also perfect on seven PAT kicks.
“They wanted to burn clock and short the game and keep our offense off the field,’’ Warriors Coach Eric Cohu said. “They did a good job with that. Our defense got down a little bit, but [they found] a way to come up with a couple of stops in the second half.’’
It was a 21-21 game at the half and the score remained 28-28 early in the fourth quarter.
“We can’t turn the ball over,’’ Cohu said. “We let them extend too many drives. We knew they could run the football and they did a great job. Beebe does a really good job of having a sound ground game.”
Even before the two closing TD passes to Harris, Bowersock was having a big night for the Warriors. He was 13 of 21 passing for 169 yards and 3 touchdowns and added 101 yards rushing on 12 carries and 2 touchdowns.
Bullish sophomore Kendel Givens scored on a 1-yard run to break the tie with 9:23 left.
The Warriors defense stopped Beebe, which failed on four onside kick attempts in the game, a yard short on downs at the 10 set set up the the 90-yard scoring pass to Hill.
The final score, which didn’t sit well with the Beebe coaches, came after sophomore Ben James’ interception return in the final minute.
“It’s tough to prepare for them,’’ Cohu said. “Even the teams that run predominately run it out of a little different look than the dead T. There aren’t many who do.”
The Warriors opened the scoring on their first drive with Bowersock running in from the 2. Beebe answered with a 70-yard drive with Connor Bieker scoring from the 2. The teams continued to match scores and settled for a 21-21 halftime deadlock. Khalil Anthony and C.J. Caldwell scored on short runs for the Badgers and Little Rock Christian added touchdowns on a 5-yard run by Bowersock and a 26-yard pass from Justice Hill to Chris Hightower.
The Warriors took the lead on a 20-yard pass from Bowersock to junior MJ Loggins. Beebe, which got a perfect night on extra points from sophomore Jaime Rodriguez, tied it on a 3-yard run by C.J. Cauldwell.
5A-SOUTH WATSON CHAPEL 21, HOT SPRINGS 14
PINE BLUFF — Omar Allen scored on a 3-yard run and Watson Chapel (2-2, 1-0 5A-South) added a 2-point conversion at the end of regulation as the Wildcats beat Hot Springs (0-4, 0-1).
Ricky Farver ran 15 yards for Watson Chapel’s first score and the Wildcats went into halftime with the game at 7-7. Jaylen Williams hit Berkarian Black with a 55-yard touchdown pass in the fourth that set up Watson Chapel’s comeback.
WHITE HALL 47, MAGNOLIA 36
WHITE HALL — Senior running back Layne Hartsfield rushed for two touchdowns and returned a kickoff 55 yards for another to help White Hall (40, 1-0) to outlast Magnolia (1-3, 0-1).
Junior Baylor Owen added a 75-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and senior Austin Terrell and junior Jabin Gulley each caught touchdown passes for the Bulldogs.
HOT SPRINGS LAKESIDE 26, CAMDEN FAIRVIEW 14
HOT SPRINGS — Dupree Swanson scored all four touchdowns to lead Hot Springs Lakeside (1-3, 1-0) over Camden Fairview.
Swanson gained 125 yards and scored 2 times on 15 first-half carries to give the Rams a 12-0 halftime lead.
Swanson went over from 1 yard at 9:17 of the third quarter and from 2 yards with 6:06 left in the game. He also scored Lakeside’s only successful two-point conversion that made the score 20-0.
Patrick Rucks ran 2 yards for a Fairview touchdown late in the third quarter with Gabe Rucks running in the tw0-point conversion. Gabe Rucks caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Jalen Moore with 4:54 left in the game.