By MATT VINES, Journal Sports
How to game plan for a quarterback that broke national records the previous week?
Play keepaway. Run the ball well, and recover onside kicks.
Benton executed that early game plan to near perfection, building a pair of two-score leads Friday at Evangel, but the Eagles clawed their way back to a 33-32 win.
“Benton could have easily come out on top tonight, and hats off Benton and (coach) Reynolds Moore because it was a fantastic game plan,” said Evangel coach Denny Duron, whose team improved to 2-5, 2-4 in District 1-5A. “We weren’t ready for the onside kicks, and I honestly thought, ‘Were we ever going to get the ball tonight?’
“But we made adjustments on special teams and defense. It was just a game that wasn’t over until we made our final kneel down.”
While the “diesel” package has been a facet of Benton’s offense all season, the Tigers (1-6, 1-4) leaned more heavily on the run Friday.
Cole Austin bulled his way for a 1-yard touchdown run to pull Benton to within 33-32 with two minutes remaining, and Moore dialed it up again on the two-point conversion to go for the lead after unexpected troubles in the kicking game Friday.
Video from the game appeared to show Austin stretch his entire arm with the ball into the end zone on the conversion, but the attempt was ruled short after a lengthy discussion among officials.
Benton’s defense, which had contained Evangel quarterback Pop Houston and Co. relatively well, had one more shot to get the ball back on a fourth-and-three with 1:30 remaining.
But Houston called his own number and picked up the first down with his feet.
“I don’t call a lot of plays anymore, but whatever we did call, I wanted the ball in Houston’s hands,” Duron said. “That was the biggest first down of our season.
“(Running back) Joshua Isaac and (defensive lineman) Kaleb Duncan played out of their minds tonight as well. It was a great team effort and a team win.”
Benton’s offense was stopped twice on fourth downs in the second half that also limited opportunities as both defenses picked it up in the second half.
But the start couldn’t have gone any better, said Benton’s veteran coach.
“It went exactly like I told our guys I envisioned it,” said Moore, who added that he’d let the video evidence speak for itself on Benton’s two-point conversion late in the game. “We talked about that in our team meetings today.
“We were happy with the start. The (fourth-down stops) were tough to overcome in the second half. We put ourselves in a hole with a holding call on one.”
Benton surged to a 12-0 lead and built leads of 19-6 and 26-19 in the first half as they gained more than 200 of their 325 rushing yards before halftime.
But Evangel’s Kionte Mims and Damari Drake scored touchdowns as the Eagles surged ahead 33-26 with 6:39 remaining.
Following his national record 817-yard passing eruption last week at Captain Shreve, Houston finished with 243 yards on 28-of-36 passing and threw for two touchdowns.
AIRLINE 56, HAUGHTON 13: The Airline-Haughton matchup was the only District 1-5A game quickly resolved Friday night as the Vikings remained the sole unbeaten local squad with a 56-13 road win.
The Vikings (7-0, 5-0), ranked 10th in the LSWA’s Class 5A Top 10 for the second straight week, scored the game’s first 21 points and led 42-7 at the half.
“I think we have done a really good job the last few weeks starting out fast,” said Airline coach Justin Scogin. “We’re not entirely sure of the reason, but I’m a big fan.
“It’s something that we’ve really preached this year along with the kids playing really hard for each other.”
Six different Vikings reached the end zone led by DJ Allen’s two rushing scores. Other touchdown makers included Ayden Baker, Jarvis Davis and Kenny Darcy with scoring grabs from quarterback Ben Taylor, who also added a score with his feet.
Micah Johnson added a rushing touchdown as well.
The Vikings close out their home schedule next Friday against Natchitoches Central, while Haughton (2-5, 1-5) heads to Evangel.
Contact Matt at sports@journalservicesllc.com