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BEULAH — The Beulah Bobcats fell to 2-4 on the season with a 41-10 loss to the Dadeville Tigers Friday evening at Bobcat Stadium.

The Bobcats got off to a slow start, falling behind Dedeville 13-0 in the first quarter before getting on the scoreboard with a field goal. The visitors got touchdowns on their first two drives to have that 13-0 lead before the Bobcats got a 21-yard field goal from Reed Maloof to make it 13-3.

The Tigers got their first score on a 42-yard run off the left side of the line by Davion Byrd. The PAT failed, leaving the score 6-0 midway of the opening period. Beulah failed to move the ball on their next possession and after a short punt, Dadeville put the ball in play on their 46-yard line. They then drove it 54 yards to go up by two scores. On fourth-and-three from the 22, Burns scored for the Tigers on a run off the left side of the line. The point-after kick made it 13-0 with 31.8 seconds left in the first quarter.

In the second period, Beulah got a break when Tim Hightower recovered a Dadeville fumble on the Tiger 23. They looked to be in business when quarterback Wes Grant completed a pass to L.J. Fitzpatrick inside the Dadeville 10, but a holding penalty negated the big play. They did get it close enough for Maloof’s field goal. With 4:18 left before halftime, the Bobcats had narrowed the score to 13-3.

After getting a kickoff out of bounds, Dadeville started their next possession on their 35. It took them just one play to score again. This time Eason got loose off the right side of the line and was very quickly into the secondary. He outran everyone to the end zone for Dadeville’s third TD of the game. With 3:55 left before halftime, they led 20-3.

In the final minutes of the half, the Bobcats drove the ball 77 yards to narrow the score to 20-10. It would be their best offensive series of the game. They excelled both in terms of running the ball and passing it. R.J. Shealey and Mason Madden ran the ball well between the tackles and quarterback Wes Grant made some big completions to wideout L.J. Fitzpatrick. A pass from Grant to Fitzpatrick with 25 seconds left in the half put the ball in the end zone.

That late Beulah drive gave a large home crowd hope of a Bobcat comeback in the second half, but it was not to be. The Tigers took complete control of the game, outscoring Beulah 21-0 to take home a 41-10 win.

Three of Beulah’s final four games will be on the road. Next week they will be at Childersburg before returning home with a game against Randolph County. Then it’s back to the road again to close out the season at Weaver and Horseshoe Bend.

Coach Matt Johnson commended the play of Wes Grant at quarterback. 

“Our starting quarterback, Demarion Foreman, was out with an ankle injury,” he said. “He’s our playmaker and that was a big setback for us, but I thought Wes did a great job given the circumstances. I also liked the effort of our running backs, R.J. Shealey, Mason Madden and Khamoni Lindsey. Dadeville is a really good team. It was hard going up against them when we were not at full strength. Our guys never gave up, but we just didn’t make the plays you have to have to win against a team like them.”

Johnson said he hopes Foreman will make a return to the starting lineup before the season is over. 

“He’s a big piece of our offense,” he said. “We hope to have him back before Childersburg.”