By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
When Benton scored a touchdown with 47 seconds left in the second quarter to make it a 27-14 game against Savannah, it felt like Friday's game would be a battle into the second half.
The Savages (5-0) made sure that it wasn't.
Savannah scored a series of 27 unanswered points, including a touchdown with nine seconds left in the first half, to take control and beat Benton 54-22 at Sparks Field in St. Joseph Friday.
Savannah went into halftime ahead 34-14, and eventually led 54-14 with less than eight minutes to play.
"Credit to Benton," Savannah coach Anthony Hays said. "They're much improved. They got on the board a couple of times and made it a tight game, but our guys responded. I think that's the thing I took away the most is that we had some adversity, faced a good team, had some self-inflicted stuff, but we overcame it and pulled away in the second half."
Savannah scored touchdowns on each of their first seven possessions. Senior quarterback Ethan Dudeck got things going on the Savages' first possession in the first quarter, capping a nine-play scoring drive with a nine-yard touchdown throw to junior Zayden Snapp, making it 7-0 Savages with 3:59 to go in the opening quarter.
Benton (3-2) had an answer on the ensuing drive, as sophomore quarterback Jaxson Rich fired a pass down the sideline to senior tight end Denver Domann, who took it 32 yards to the endzone. The point-after from Ryker Wells missed, and Savannah led 7-6 at the end of one.
The Savages had the ball to start the second quarter, and capped an 11-play scoring drive with a seven-yard touchdown run from junior running back Cade Chappell, and Savannah led 14-6 with 10:27 left in the second.
After Benton turned the ball over on downs on their next series, Savannah kept the pressure on, as Dudeck fired a beautiful 50-yard touchdown strike to Snapp down the sideline.
Snapp caught the ball about 10 or so yards away from the endzone, and drug Benton's Devon Hoffmann with him to the goal line before stretching out for the score.
Snapp had four catches for 73 yards and two scores Friday.
Benton had no answer again, punting on their next drive. Just four plays later, Chappell took off down the Savannah sideline on a 44-yard score and Savannah led 27-6 with 1:10 left until halftime.
Badly needing a score, Benton made it happen on just one play seconds later. Rich fired a pass to Hoffmann in the middle of the field, who caught the ball fairly wide open and went 64 yards to the house to make it a 27-14 ballgame with 47 seconds left until the break.
Then, the Savannah avalanche started. Just three plays later, aided by a Benton horse-collar penalty, Dudeck lobbed a pass to an open Truman Bodenhausen in the endzone, putting Savannah ahead 34-14 at the break.
Dudeck completed 6-of-9 passes for 104 yards and a touchdown.
"I think it was great play all around by our whole team," Dudeck said. "Defense really stepped up in the second half after allowing a couple of touchdowns early on, but Chappell runs the ball hard every time. Our offensive line gave me plenty of time. So, just all around great play for the whole team."
The Savages got the ball to start the second half and tightened their grip on the game. Milking more than six minutes off the clock on a 12-play drive, Chappell scored for a third time in the game from seven yards out, making it a 41-14 contest with 5:44 left in the third.
Chappell finished with 205 yards rushing on 28 carries to go with his three touchdowns.
Senior Alex Hopper and freshman backup quarterback Aiden Knechtenhofer added rushing scores in the fourth quarter. Benton senior Adrian Byrd scored on a 15-yard touchdown run to get the Cardinals back on the board before game's end with 1:56 remaining.
Benton had a stretch of three straight drives in the third and fourth quarter that ended in punt. The Cardinals had just one first down in the third quarter as well.
Rich led Benton offensively, completing 13-of-18 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns. Domann caught seven passes for 87 yards and a score. Hoffmann had three snags for 114 receiving yards and a touchdown.
This marks five straight wins over Benton for Savannah. But more importantly, with Chillicothe's 29-20 win over St. Pius X on Friday, the Savages are the lone undefeated team left in the Midland Empire Conference and in Class 3 District 8.
Savannah also hasn't gone unbeaten through its first five games since 2012.
"We enjoy the wins," Hays said, "but we clean slate on the weekend and look at our next opponent. We don't take anybody for granted. Just try to be 1-0 every week and hopefully at the end, we're holding up an MEC title and a district title."
Savannah is home to Cameron next week, while Benton heads to Maryville. The Spoofhounds beat the Dragons 49-0 Friday.
Full broadcast
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.