Beavers tame Tigers, rematch Knights in quarterfinals
CHARLESTON – Those early playoff blues aren’t applying to the Glen Rose Beavers of 2020. Falling in the second round the last two years and the first round before that, the Beavers are back in the quarterfinals of the 3A state playoffs after downing the Charleston Tigers 21-14 at Alumni Field in Charleston. It’s the first time the Beavers have made it past the second round since the 2016-2017 season.
“We’re 3-1 on that field now,” Glen Rose Head Coach Mark Kehner said of Alumni Field. “We played well against them. I thought our kids played hard. We didn’t execute things throughout the game and I felt like we could have won by two or three more scores. We got to clean our act up if we’re going to go deeper in the playoffs, but there’s not many schools that can say they’ve got a winning record at Charleston. I take my hat off to my kids. They played a great ballgame.”
The victory, which snapped Charleston’s eightgame win streak, sets the Beavers (10-2) up for a home game against the Centerpoint Knights in the quarterfinals, a team Glen Rose edged 7-6 at Beavers Stadium in Week 8. The Knights routed Camden Harmony Grove 47-22 Friday at home.
Things started well for the Beavers Friday. The Glen
Rose defense forced a punt on the Tigers first offensive series and the Beavers would cap a 10-play, 71-yard drive, highlighted by Dalton Taylor’s 21-yard run, with a 12yard Wesley Launius to Jace Cheatham touchdown pass for the early 7-0 lead. The pass wasn’t originally for Cheatham as the tip fell in his hands in the end zone.
Cheatham would come up big on defense the next possession, recovering a Charleston (9-3) fumble. But, the Tigers would take advantage of a Beaver miscue the next series. A mixup between Launius and his running back resulted in a fumble and Tiger Nathan Zimmer returned it 65 yards for a TD and 7-7 ballgame with about three and a half minutes left in the first quarter, which it remained going into the second.
It was a defensive bout the next quarter as Glen Rose missed a field goal, Beaver senior Andrew Fletcher picked off Charleston quarterback Brandon Scott and Glen Rose would turn it over on downs. Consecutive sacks by Beavers Ryan Fox and Cheatham forced a Tigers punt, but the Beavers were forced to punt, too.
It was the Tigers next punt which Glen Rose took advantage of. Junior Conner Taylor took the Charleston punt to pay dirt for a 54-yard TD and 14-7 Beaver lead with 43 seconds left, which stood at the half.
Glen Rose outgained Charleston 148-59 in total offense the first half, and other than one play in the second half ultimately resulting in a Tiger touchdown, the Beavers were dominate on the defensive side, giving up just 158 yards the whole game.
“We felt like we dominated the game defensively,” Kehner said. “They had a scoop and score and then we give up one play on that deep ball, which was a bonehead play by us. But basically, that’s all the defense gave up all night long. We felt like we controlled everything they wanted to do; controlled their receivers, controlled their quarterback and they didn’t really have anything they could do offensively.”
Though the offense didn’t always execute, the Beaver D executed their game plan all night.
“We felt confident about our game plan going against them,” Kehner said. “Our kids executed it, outside of one play, to perfection. We felt like we could cover them up, we felt like we could stuff the run and we pretty much did both all night long.”
After a scoreless third quarter, the Beavers got back on the board early in the fourth, thanks to the running of Dalton Taylor and offensive line. Taylor ran six times for 62 yards, including a 40-yarder, setting up a 1-yard TD run from Launius for the 21-7 Glen Rose lead with 9:55 left to go. Taylor finished with a game-high 104 yards rushing on 15 carries.
“That’s probably the best game we’ve had out of Dalton,” Kehner said. “We were kind waiting on that game out of him. He ran tough, held on to the football. The offensive line up front did a phenomenal job. They were moving around, stunting a lot, and we just controlled the game with the run game.”
But, the Tigers weren’t finished. The Beavers had Charleston deep in their own territory with a fourth-and-16, but Scott would find Brevyn Ketter for a 47-yard reception to the Glen Rose 15-yard line, and Breckon Ketter ran it in for the TD four plays later for the 21-14 game with 6:25 left to go.
Launius was picked off the next Glen Rose series, but the Beaver D came through big again, holding the Tigers to a turnover on downs. Glen Rose ran it out the rest of the 2:13 to claim victory.
Launius finished 10 of 21 for 139 yards, a touchdown and a pick, and also ran for 41 yards and a TD. Ethan Taylor finished with seven carries for 43 yards in his return. Noah Wright led the receivers with four catches for 63 yards, with Colton Hixon adding two for 53.
Glen Rose returns home to face Centerpoint in what Kehner expects to be another tough matchup.
“We played them Week 8 and beat them 7-6,” he said. “It was a phenomenal ballgame at our place. It’s going to be an intense night at Glen Rose, another quarterfinal game with Glen Rose at home. Just looking forward to playing another week.”