By ROY LANG III, Journal Sports
It’s not like Airline head coach Justin Scogin woke up Saturday morning and had to check to make sure his team’s 75-point performance wasn’t just a dream.
“Trust me, I knew exactly what happened,” Scogin told the Journal. “I kept looking at the scoreboard last night hoping the seconds would tick off. When they threw a couple of touchdowns and we fumbled it got pretty scary.”
Despite Airline’s school-record output Friday, Benton didn’t back down and made Scogin uneasy down the stretch. Airline led by 35 points in the fourth quarter before the Tigers piled up three unanswered scores.
However, when the final horn sounded, Airline had secured a 75-59 District 1-5A victory and an evening that won’t soon be forgotten.
Said Scogin: “Hopefully, I’ll look back and say, ‘That was the day everyone realized Daxton Chavez is the best receiver in the country.’”
Chavez, a 6-foot-4, 190 pound senior, caught nine passes from quarterback Ben Taylor for 233 receiving yards and snagged five of Taylor’s seven touchdown tosses.
The five TD receptions are believed to be a Shreveport-Bossier City record.
Taylor passed for a school record 412 yards (26-of-37 passing) – the previous record was held by Steve Haynes (393 yards against Shreve in 1972).
The Vikings’ (1-3, 1-0 in district) offense showed a spark in the second half of Week 3’s game against Northwood and, Friday, proved it was no fluke.
“Ben, Dax, Bob (Patterson), Cam (Jefferson), Tre’ Jackson — we just clicked and showed our capabilities,” Scogin said.
On the flip side, this marked the second straight week Benton (1-3, 0-1) had allowed more than 50 points.
“We’ve got to get some defensive stops and clean up our special teams play,” Benton head coach Reynolds Moore said. “We aren’t going to win many games if we don’t get better in those two things.”
The Tigers have also scored at least 50 points in consecutive games, but Moore said that unit isn’t perfect, either.
“We’ve also lost by two and 16 on consecutive weeks and have been stopped inside the red zone twice in each game,” Moore said. “So even though it looks like the offense is doing enough to win, if we don’t leave those points out there, we win both games.
“We just have to play better.”
This was not the first time Benton has allowed 75 points. In 2019, the Tigers fell to No. 1 seed and eventual state champion, Acadiana, 78-28, in a first-round Class 5A playoff game.
Contact Roy at roylangiii@yahoo.com
Airline 75, Benton 59
Score by quarters
Airline| 28 | 19 | 21 | 7 | – 75
Benton | 20 | 6 | 7 | 26 | – 59
Scoring summary
Air – Bob Patterson 35 pass from Ben Taylor (Ben Jump kick)
Ben – Pearce Russell 93 kickoff return (Peyton May kick)
Air – JoJo Johnson 85 kickoff return (Jump kick)
Air – Daxton Chavez 45 pass from Taylor (Jump kick)
Air – Chavez 18 pass from Taylor (Jump kick)
Ben – Manning 42 pass from Gray Walters (kick failed)
Ben – Manning 14 run (May kick)
Air – Chavez 31 pass from Taylor (kick failed)
Air – Cameron Jefferson 12 pass from Taylor (kick failed)
Air – Chavez 88 pass from Taylor (Jump kick)
Ben – G. Manning 3 run (run failed)
Air – Ben Taylor 3 run (Jump kick)
Air – Chavez 6 pass from Taylor (Jump kick)
Ben – Manning 6 run (May kick)
Air – Tre’ Jackson 7 run (Jump kick)
Ben – Manning 14 run (May kick)
Air – Kylin Jackson 20 run (Jump kick)
Ben – Russell 32 pass from Jeff King (May kick)
Ben – King 1 run (kick failed)
Ben – Russell 27 pass from King (kick failed)
Individual leaders
Rushing – Airline, Tre’ Jackson 15-173, Kylin Jackson 6-120, JoJo Johnson 4-6. Benton, Manning 30-257, 4 TDs, Walters 10-75, King Jayden McNeil 7-24 1-TD, King 1-12.
Passing – Airline, Taylor 26-37-0, 412 yards, 7 TDs. Benton, Walters 12-22-2, 121 yards, King 5-8-0, 80 yards, 2 TDs.
Receiving – Airline, Chavez 9-233, 5 TDs, Patterson 2-52, 1 TD, Jefferson 3-25 1 TD, Tre’ Jackson 2-18, JoJo Johnson 2-12. Benton, Russell 6-61, 2 TDs, Andy Lim 5-45, Manning 4-53 1-TD, King 1-37.
