HENDERSONVILLE — Beech had a pair of 100-yard rushers, reached the end zone five times and ran 27 more plays than Mt. Juliet.

And that was just in the first half.

The Buccaneers moved the ball at will and took a commanding lead in the Region 6-4A race with a 54-38 home victory over Mt. Juliet.

Beech (7-1, 5-0) needs to win one of its final two games to claim its first region title since 2005 and lock up home-field advantage for the Class 4A playoffs.

"We knew this game was very big," said Beech tailback Bobby Huey, who ran for 175 yards and two touchdowns. "Our offensive line came off the ball and hit them hard, and we rushed it down their throat."

Halfback Justin Allen had 126 of Beech's 393 yards on the ground, and Matt Shanes tossed two first-half touchdown passes.

Mt. Juliet (4-4, 4-1) remains in good shape to earn the region's second seed, but that was little consolation on a night when its defense was exposed.

The Golden Bears failed to secure the opening kickoff, which hit a lineman in the leg, and things snowballed from there.

Beech Coach Anthony Crabtree said Mt. Juliet Coach Roger Perry accused him of running the score up.

"I don't understand it," Crabtree said. "He played his (first unit) the whole game. We just wanted to stay comfortably ahead. He could have conceded. They wanted to make me out to be the bad guy."

Mt. Juliet quarterback Reed Gurchiek spurred his team to 28 second-half points behind 232 passing yards and 80 rushing yards.

Beech marched 39 yards on its opening possession of the third quarter to take a 41-10 lead on Taylor Stewart's 2-yard run.

"We kept our eye on the prize," Allen said. "We wanted to start fast and finish fast. We believed whoever won this game would have a good shot at the region championship."