Danny Czerwinski, Section618.com
Benton– August is the tail end of summer. However, on the opening night of high school football, the heat was the lead story at the start of Carterville at Benton.
The game was like a heavyweight boxing match as both teams threw some jabs on the first two drives. It was the Lions who figured out the first score of the game. Carterville used a 12 play, 87 yard drive in just over 6 minutes to get the first score of the year. Skelcher found Bisching behind the Benton secondary for a 20 yard pass to put the Lions up 6-0 at the end of the first quarter. The Lions dominated with 112 yards in the 1Q while the Rangers only had 6 yards.
The second quarter saw both teams with chances and opportunities to move the football. Neither team was able to get a score and the halftime score was the same as the end of the first with Carterville leading 6-0. Defense was the staple for the Lions as they held Benton to one first down which was gained on a penalty. The Rangers only had 28 yards of offense in the first half.
With the start of the second half, the Rangers resorted to trickery to tie the game. Quarterback Kouzoukas pitched to Lucas Kinsman who ran right, then threw a 61 yard touchdown pass to Grant Owens as the Rangers tied the game at 6-6. The extra point was blocked and the game started over with 11:12 to go in the third quarter.
It didn’t take long for the Lions to answer. It was a two play drive as Skelcher found Parker Poole on a 62 yard touchdown pass. The extra point was no good but the Lions led 12-6 with 10:23 left in the third quarter.
Heat and fatigue started to take its toll on the Rangers. On 4th down deep in their own territory, Benton lined up to punt but the snap went out of the end zone for a safety. Carterville lead 14-6 with 3:49 left in the third quarter.
However the Lions weren’t done scoring. On the first play from scrimmage, Aiden Hinton sprang loose for a 55 yard touchdown run to put Carterville up 20-6 at the end of three quarters.
Carterville and Benton each added a final touchdown late to give the final score of 27-12. The Lions improve to 1-0 and will host Nashville next week. Benton drops to 0-1 and will host Chester next week on Q106.3 and the Rangers Channel on the Section618.com App.