By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL, Journal Sports
In many sports, seven is a good thing. It’s hard to complain about seven birdies. Seven strikes in bowling will make the others in your Thursday night league jealous. You don’t just walk on the court and make seven 3-pointers in a basketball game.
But seven touchdown passes? That’s a good season for some high school quarterbacks, much less in one game. It may not be a record, but there aren’t a lot of guys walking around with that accomplishment in their back pocket.
Ever.
Airline sophomore quarterback Ben Taylor put his name on that very short list with his performance Friday against Benton in a 75-59 win. (Speaking of short lists, Taylor’s teammate Daxton Chavez is on one as well by catching five of those scoring strikes.)
Taylor threw so many touchdown passes that night, you almost have to wonder if he can remember them all.
Wonder no more, as Taylor tries to recount all seven touchdown passes — in order.
#1 – “That one was to Bob (Patterson). It was an out-and-up and he took it from there.” (35 yards)
#2 – “That was a comeback to Dax. He broke a tackle and just kept going.” (45 yards)
#3 – “Third one … was that a fade to Dax? About 20 yards?” (18 yards)
#4 – “That was probably another fade to Dax. Maybe like 10 yards out.” (31 yards)
You get the feeling Taylor is starting to wobble a little bit, but he soldiers on and picks up where he left off …
#5 – “I’m pretty sure the fifth one was a fade to Cam (Cameron Jefferson) on the left side. About 10 yards.” (12 yards)
#6 – “(long pause) Was that another fade? No, no, I threw another comeback to Dax and he broke another tackle from about 40 yards. Or maybe it was a go route. For like 70 yards. Yeah, it was a go route.” (88 yards).
#7 – “The last one was a fade to Dax along the right side for about 15 yards.” (6 yards)
That’s pretty impressive, especially considering Taylor didn’t even know he had thrown seven touchdown passes until well after the game was over and his father told him.
“I knew I had a lot,” he says. “I didn’t know I had seven.”
Taylor threw for 235 yards just on touchdown passes. For the game, he was 26 of 37 for 412 yards. Chavez had nine catches for 233 yards.
The sophomore also ran for a touchdown and he remembers that one perfectly. “I was about three yards out on a quarterback sneak,” he says.
After starting at quarterback for the Vikings as a freshman at the end of last season, the 6-foot-1, 160-pound Taylor emerged as the Vikings’ starter during summer workouts under new coach Justin Scogin.
When Taylor started against Benton last year, it did not go well. There was also a welcome-to-varsity-football hit on Taylor that he has probably not forgotten.
“It definitely meant more,” Taylor says about having his breakout performance coming against Benton. “They picked us for Homecoming, so we took that kind of personally.”
But more than that, it was a much-needed first win for the Vikings who had been off to an 0-3 start. “It was frustrating because I knew what we could do,” Taylor says of the first part of the season. “We just had to execute to get going.”
The Vikings will be back in action Friday night when they take on Natchitoches Central at home.
“A lot of people have been congratulating me, but we just have to keep getting better,” Taylor says. “Just keep doing the same thing.”
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com