BEAUREGARD — The Valley ninth-grade football team lost to Beauregard’s second team  22-20 on Monday night.

“I didn’t have the team ready,” Valley ninth grade head football coach Thomas Hill said. “It’s on me. We came out very flat. They took advantage of some short fields.”

At halftime, the Rams trailed the Hornets 22-0 before Valley went on a scoring surge in the second half. Running back TyKale Foreman led the charge by running for 216 yards on 17 carries and scored all three touchdowns for the Rams.

When Valley had a chance to tie the game, quarterback John White threw to Foreman, who Hill thought reached the end zone but the referees decided otherwise. Valley had one last chance to score at the end of the game when White completed a pass to Kalen Sherrell but the Ram receiver would ultimately be tackled before reaching the goal line.

“In the second half, they played with their hair on fire,” Hill said. “If we would’ve done that the entire game, we would’ve had a different outcome.”

On defense, White returned an interception 40 yards in addition to the three tackles he made in the effort. M.J. Atkinson had two tackles, a tackle for a loss and an interception. Hunter Burdette and Kross Colley led the team in tackles with six apiece. Dylan Earle had four tackles, while Romel Jackson, Bentley Green and Foreman all had three tackles.

White finished the game throwing for 120 yards on 8-of-12 passing. Atkinson led all Ram receiver with three receptions for 60 yards. Sherrell had three catches for 34 yards. Jonathan Poe contributed two catches for 26 yards in the game.

“I am proud of the heart that we played with in that second half almost coming all the way back,” Hill said.

Next week, the Valley freshmen will wrap up the season at Opelika.