By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
It took the Benton offense a little while to get going against Lafayette on Friday night.
Once the Cardinals got going, however, they were hard to stop.
Benton (2-1) led 6-0 after the first quarter and put up 25 second quarter points, including 19 points in the final 2:30 of the first half to ultimately beat Lafayette 44-13 at Scott Marriott Field at Lafayette High School Friday.
It's Benton's first win over Lafayette since 2015 and it's the Cardinals' first win in the North Side since November 2006.
"We knew we were going to get (Lafayette's) best," Benton coach Kevin Keeton said. "Man, they came out smacking us. And it took us a little bit of time to adjust. Once we did that, we did a few nice things."
Both offenses were slow to start early in the first quarter, as each team came up empty on their first two drives. Lafayette recovered a fumble with 3:13 left in the first and took over on their own 17-yard line, but a turnover on downs set the Cardinals up with a short field.
Benton took advantage in just two plays, as a 34-yard catch by Jackson Kanasky set up a one-yard touchdown run by Bishop Rush, giving the Cardinals a 6-0 lead after one quarter.
Benton added to that lead a few minutes into the second quarter. A seven-play, 57-yard drive was capped off with a 12-yard touchdown run from quarterback Jaxson Rich, giving the Cardinals a 12-0 advantage with 7:49 left in the second.
Lafayette (0-3) struggled to move the ball early with just one first down in the first half. After both teams exchanged interceptions midway through the second, Benton found itself on the Irish 25-yard line after a pick by Treigh Nowak.
Four plays later, Rich found Devon Hoffmann on a 25-yard touchdown strike. A successful point after by Kanasky made the score 19-0 Benton with 2:31 left until halftime.
The floodgates then opened up for Benton. A high, shallow kickoff by Ryker Wells fell in the middle of the field, and the Cardinals recovered their own kickoff at the Lafayette 28-yard line.
Benton turned that into points just two plays later, as Adrian Byrd scored on a 10-yard touchdown run to make it 25-0 Benton - just 19 seconds after the previous score.
A quick three-and-out by Lafayette inside the final two minutes of the first half gave Benton the ball back at the Irish 42 with just 52 seconds left until the break.
Forty-six seconds later, Benton scored again. Landon Stallsworth hauled in a 31-yard touchdown catch to give the Cardinals a 31-0 lead at intermission.
Rich, who left the game late in the third quarter with injury, did nearly all of his damage in the first half, completing 7-of-10 passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 19 yards and a score.
"That's a tough kid," Keeton said of Rich. "He cares about winning. He is very passionate about this game. I wouldn't want to tackle him if I was 17 years old, I can tell you that."
It went from bad to worse for Lafayette to open the second half. After the Irish defense stopped Benton on a 4th and goal, Lafayette took over at its own three-yard line.
Quarterback Jackson Compton was strip sacked in his own endzone, and Rush recovered the fumble for a touchdown, making it 37-0 Benton with 8:22 left in the third.
Lafayette strung together a couple of scoring drives late - one in the third and the other in the fourth. Compton had a pair of touchdown throws - one was 28 yards to Melik Reed and the other went 30 yards to Antonio Williams.
Compton was 10-of-22 for 151 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Reed had a team-high five receptions for 40 yards and the score.
After Rich left the game for Benton, Hoffmann took the reigns at quarterback. He and the Cardinals' ground game put together a 10-play, 80-yard drive capped off by a 11-yard touchdown run from Rush, giving Benton a 44-6 advantage with 8:32 left in the game.
Rush finished with 62 yards on 10 carries with a pair of scores. Stallsworth also had 10 carries going for 54 yards. Hoffmann caught four passes for 65 yards and a score. Byrd rushed five times for a team-best 75 yards and a score as well.
All-in-all, a dynamic effort from Benton's offense and a feel-good win after the Cardinals lost at home to St. Joseph Central 47-13 the week prior.
"We've been on the other side of some of these more often than I'd like to remember," Keeton admitted. "I want to encourage the Lafayette boys to continue to work hard and good things will happen. Hard work always pays off."
Benton is back home to face KC Central on September 16. Lafayette travels to Savannah that same day.
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