RICHARD STEPHENS / PVT Joe Serrano, 8, breaks away for a touchdown run in Beatty's 44-20 rout of visiting Henderson Warren-Walker, in a Nevada Class A Central Division football game Thursday. The Hornets are at home against Spring Mountain Friday; kickoff is at 7 p.m. Advertisement

BEATTY -- The Beatty football Hornets play their pivotal game of the season at home Friday night, when Spring Mountain's Eagles visit for a Nevada Class A Central Division clash.

Kickoff is at 7 on the Hornets' field, where last Thursday, Beatty crunched Henderson Warren-Walker 44-20 in the division opener for both teams. Spring Mountain lost 68-18 to visiting Tonopah Saturday afternoon, in the 2006 1-A debut for both the Eagles and two-time defending division champion Muckers.

The Hornets (3-2, 1-0) hope to repeat what they did against the Wolverines (2-2, 0-1) Thursday. Coach Gus Sullivan's team jumped ahead 8-0 in the first five minutes and led 31-0 with 5:29 to go in the first half.

"We're never going to run up the score against anybody," said Sullivan, in his first season as the Hornets' coach. "We tried a lot of different looks and we got everybody into the game. When they scored that last touchdown, we had six freshmen on the field."

A safety and a 26-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Matt Everts gave Beatty its early eight-point advantage.

The score moved to 16-0 when Tony Heilman scored on a one-yard plunge and the two-point conversion with 1:59 to go in the first period.

Everts, on a Reggie Bush-like 63-yard run through every Wolverine defender, scored at 10:44 of the second quarter and Heilman added the points after to give Beatty a 24-0 lead.

Heilman scored from four yards out and Byron Gray booted the point after, lifting Beatty to a 31-0 advantage with 5:29 left in the first half.

A pass interception by Danny Kibbee led to the first score of the second half by Beatty. He returned the ball to the Wolverine 8 and in three plays, the Hornets had their touchdown on a four-yard pass from Everts to David Tom. Gray kicked the extra point and it was 38-0 Beatty with just 30 seconds gone in the third quarter.

That's when Sullivan started mixing it up with his personnel, both offensively and defensively. Which allowed Warren-Walker to generate a mild comeback.

The Wolverines scored three touchdowns over the next 20 minutes of play to close the deficit to 38-20. But Joe Serrano, who played a few series at quarterback in the second half, returned to wingback to score on a nine-yard run with 1:26 left in the game.

"This has been a fun season for us; it's great being around these kids," said Sullivan. "We were able to try some razzle-dazzle tonight ... we mixed it up quite a bit."

NOTES -- In another Central 1-A game last weekend, Indian Springs defeated Round Mountain 44-22 ... In games this week, it will be Indian Springs at Tonopah Friday and Round Mountain at Warren-Walker Saturday.