Benjamin's defense takes control as No. 1 Bulldogs pull away from No. 4 Loraine

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LORAINE − The announcer called it correctly on homecoming night at Loraine's football stadium.

"Hope you're enjoying this game. It's the biggest game we've had in Loraine in a long time," he said.

Fans filled the bleachers on both sides of the field, and as many watched from chain link fencing as the No. 4 Bulldogs battled No. 1 Benjamin for a half before falling 61-30 in likely the best matchup in six-man football Friday night in Texas and the Reporter-News Big Country Game of the Week.

The Mustangs improved to 5-0 in dealing the Bulldogs their first loss.

This was a 22-22 game at one point, before Benjamin's defense adjusted to corral the Bulldogs' quickness. Grayson Rigdon was a key cog in the offense as usual for the Mustangs, but the defense allowed just one more touchdown and that came on a long TD pass late the game with outcome decided.

It was hard to ignore the effort of "noseguard" Fernando Torres, a not-so-big Mustangs senior who is playing injured. He got banged up early but stayed in the game, making aggressive plays in the middle of the field. That allowed his five other teammates to patrol the edges, limiting the big gainers that Loraine posted in the first quarter.

Benjamin took a knee to run out the final two minutes of the game.

"We knew the speed that they had on the pitch. We haven't seen nothing like that all year," Benjamin coach Nathan Hayes said. "Our kids haven't played past halftime all year. We had to get ready for that speed ... you try to prep it all week but it's hard to do that. That's a great football team. When we got down to it, we got rolling on defense."

The first play of the game signaled Loraine came to play. The Bulldogs recovered the onside opening kick.

But if you came to see Rigdon, who helped Strawn to a state title last season, you were rewarded on the next play. Wearing a "1" on his jersey, he intercepted Loraine's No. 1, A.J. Williams.

Hayes was proud of how his team responded to quick adversity.

"They came back," he said.

Undaunted, Loraine did not give up a first down, stopping Rigdon a yard short on fourth down, then scoring in two plays for an 8-0 lead after the PAT kick.

Benjamin would chase Loraine for much of the first half.

The Bulldogs led 16-6 and 22-14 when Jadrian Limones passed 35 yards to Damion Delgado for 1:30 left in the first quarter.

Brody White scored on a 37-yard run, bouncing right, after Rigdon gained 33 yards after looking to pass. Marco Zana kicked the PAT and it was tied at 22.

The first quarter ended with 44 points already on the board, but that's when Benjamin's defense kicked in.

Loraine was stopped on four downs twice with a Benjamin lost fumbled in between.

The Mustangs took the lead on a 50-yard run by Rigdon with 6:21 left in the half, added a safety when Williams slipped to a knee in the end zone and a 36-yard run by Rigdon with 3:32 to go.

That made it 40-22, and the second half was a defensive battle that the announcer noted.

"Moving in from the late second quarter and that second half, we just kind of stopped doing the things that got us into the ballgame early on," Loraine coach Jake Popham said. "And then the floodgates open late second quarter and third quarter. They put up a pretty big lead on us. We were able to hold on, so to speak.

"They made some huge adjustments. They really hurt us."

The game officials also were defensive, dismissing one of the members of the chain gang, who was berating the officials from the sideline.

When told to keep quiet and do his job, he fired back, "Do your job."

The officials stopped the game and asked the Loraine coach to replace him.

The man, who said earlier that he was a former Bulldogs players, left the field.

Loraine got two first downs in the second half, both on a late drive that ended with a a 40-yard TD catch by Zannon Perez from Davion Walthall.

"We kept fighting," Popham said. "We didn't let them finish us off."

Rigdon rushed for 127 yards and threw for 90 on four completions to lead Benjamin offensively. He had a hand in five touchdowns (three rushing, one receiving and one passing) and had a 35-yard TD run called back on a holding call.

He caught a 43-yard TD pass to open his team's scoring.

Williams countered with 132 rushing yards for Loraine, but only 24 yards on his last seven carries. Walthall added 75 yards for the Bulldogs.

These teams could meet again. Loraine (8-4) and Benjamin (10-1) were playoff teams last year, both bowing out to Jayton.

"If we do our job," Popham said, "we get a chance to play them again late in the season."

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Breaking it down

∎ Turning point: Tied at 22, Benjamin adjusted defensively to contain Loraine's speed. Over the final 31:30 of the game, the Bulldogs scored one touchdown.

∎ Players of the game: A.J. Williams, Loraine – HIs evasiveness not only was productive, it opened open-field opportunities for his team. He scored the game's first touchdown, which set off a good first quarter for the Bulldogs. Fernando Torres, Benjamin, defense – Coach Hayes calls him the team's noseguard but he probably is half the size of most in that position. He has an aching shoulder, his coach said, but he stayed in the game and made several plays behind the line of scrimmage despite banging it up more Friday. His effort sparked the defense, which shut down Loraine much of the final three quarters.

"He can cause some havoc for people," Hayes said.

∎ Key stat: There were no punts. Well, that happens in six-man. After giving up 10 first downs in the first half, Benjamin held Loraine to two in the second half, both on a late touchdown drive.

∎ Coach Hayes said: “We can get better. I can get better. We really haven't coached a competitive game since last year. I knew my play-calling would be off a little tonight. Loraine has been in some battles. We can get better as coaches and our kids can get better. We're going to learn from this game tonight.

∎ Coach Popham said: "I told them we mentally broke down. We beat us to a certain extent. We stopped doing the things we are known for doing. We stopped blocking and tackling, and that's just the basis of the game. If you don't do that, you're not going to win. But I told the boys that we can fix all that stuff."

∎ Impact: Benjamin will hold onto its No. 1 ranking but Loraine served notice it will be a force in the playoffs.

∎ Up next: Benjamin is at 5-1 Paducah, which lost 62-60 to Follett, next Friday. Loraine has one more non-district game, at home Friday vs. O'Donnel, before beginning District 13-1A play Oct. 21. O'Donnell lost 55-6 to Klondike.

NON-DISTRICT

Benjamin 61, Loraine 30

FIRST QUARTER

LOR - A.J. Williams 11 run (Josiah Lujan kick), 8:00

BEN − Grayson Rigdon 43 pass from Tallon Hayes (kick failed), 7:44

LOR - Davion Williams e run (Lujan kick), 6:29

BEN - Nicholas Ham 37 pass from Rigdon (Marco Zana kick), 5:24

LOR - Damion Delgado 35 pass from Jadrian Limones ( kick failed), 1:30

BEN - Brody White 37 run (Zana kick), 0:54

SECOND QUARTER

BEN − Rigdon 50 run (Zana kick), 6:21

BEN - Safety, 3;11

BEN - Rigdon 36 run (Zana kick) 3:32

THIRD QUARTER

BEN − White 27 pass from Rigdon (Zana kick), 2:13

FOURTH QUARTER

BEN − Rigdon 4 run (kick failed), 9:04

LOR - Zannon Perez 40 pass from D. Williams (Lujan kick), 2:06

BEN- John Wolfarth 25 run (Weston Weatherford run) 3:48

TEAM STATISTICS

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Benjamin, Grayson Rigdon 10-127 Brody White 6-63, John Wolfarth 3-40, Tallon Hayes 1-minus 4. Team 3-minus 15. Loraine, A.J. Williams 14-132, Davion Warthall 21-75, Xander Ybarra 3-11, Josiah Lujuan 2-1.

PASSING: Benjamin, Rigdon 4-4-0-90, Hayes 2-1-0-43, White 0-1-0-0. Loraine,Warthall, 2-5-0-50, Jadrian Limones 2-3-0-37, A.J. Williams 2-7-1-11.

RECEIVING: Benjamin, Rigdon 1-43, White 2-38, Nicholas Ham 1-37, Mario Silva 1-15 Loraine, Damion Delgado 3-54, Zannon Perez 1-40, Malaki Williams 1-2, Ybarra 1-2.

RECORDS: Benjamin 5-0, Loraine 5-1

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Benjamin's defense takes control as Bulldogs pull away from Loraine