Prep Football: Glover leads Rangers to its third straight Traveling Trophy
The rivalry game between Benton and West Frankfort got off to a slow start, but a 35-point explosion in the third quarter propelled the Rangers to a 41-0 to win the coveted Traveling Trophy for the third straight year in the SIRR-Ohio Division match up Saturday afternoon in West Frankfort.
"We came out a little over aggressive and too keyed up which resulted in penalty problems early and put behind the chains early in our offense," said Benton coach Justin Groves. "We shut down everything they were trying to do pretty well, but we just kept shooting ourselves in the foot making dumb mistakes and struggled to get our act together in the first half. We had a nice long chat at halftime and played our style of football in the second half."
The Rangers improved to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the SIRR Ohio Division while West Frankfort fell to 1-4 and 0-2 in the conference.
"We just crossed the halfway point of the season and we're two games into Ohio Division play and anytime you have a chance to win that you have to be happy," Groves said. "We plan to make the playoffs and it would be nice go in there with a little momentum and that starts this week at our Homecoming with Harrisburg."
It will be a battle for first place in the Ohio when Benton hosts Harrisburg (4-1, 2-0 Ohio) Friday at Tabor Field. The Bulldogs are coming off 30-22 win over Massac County last week and a 45-0 win over West Frankfort two weeks ago. Their only loss came in week three at home, 41-22, to Salem.
"This week we have to play our best football and be on our game and not shoot ourselves in the foot," Groves said. "They run out of double wing sets and throw it around a little bit, so we have to ready to play."
The Rangers put up 339 total yards on only 33 offensive plays for an average of 10.3 yards a play. Benton averaged 5.5 yards a rush (88 yards on 16 carries). Quarterback Keegan Glover completed 10-of-17 passes for 251 yards with only one turnover an interception in the second quarter.
Defensively, Benton held the Red Birds to just 50 yards on 40 plays for an average of just 1.25 yards a play while forcing three fumbles recovering two by Kaleb Vaughn and Lucas Wilson to post its fourth straight shutout. For the season the Rangers have given up just six points.
"Defensively we played great with only one or two positive plays being all they could muster at one point," Groves said. "Our defense was real stingy."
While Wyatt Upton led the Rangers in rushing with 59 yards on seven carries and a touchdown and Reid Baumgarte was the leading receiver with four catches for 79 yards and two touchdowns and Jaden Ford led the defense with 12.5 tackles, including four for a loss, and Baumgarte officially led the team in punt returns with a 6.5 average on two returns it was Glover who was the star of the game.
"Keegan played good in all three phases of the game," Groves said. "He returned kicks and punts for us and he played some defense for us. He helps us where we need him. He's quite an athlete."
Glover scored the game-winning touchdown with a minute left in the first quarter on a one-yard run. The senior threw three touchdown passes covering 57 yards to Upton and two to Baumgarte, 22 and 34 yards, in the third quarter.
Defensively Glover plays safety and he finished with one and a half tackles.
On special teams Glover returned the second half kickoff 65 yards to set up the Rangers first score of the third quarter - a 10-yard run by Upton. On the next series after the Ranger defense forced a punt Glover returned the kick 50 yards for a touchdown, but the play was called back on a block in the back penalty leaving him with an official return of zero yards. On the next play Glover threw the 57-yard touchdown pass to Upton.
Still on special teams Glover made up for a blocked extra point on his touchdown run by scoring a two-point conversion on Upton's 10-yard touchdown run.
Benton 41, West Frankfort 0
Benton 6 0 35 0 - 41
West Frankfort 0 0 0 0 - 0
Team Stats:
First Downs: BEN 15, WF 8. Penalties-Yards: BEN 12-105, WF 3-25. Fumbles-Lost: BEN 0-0, WF 3-2.
Individual Stats:
RUSHING: BEN-Wyatt Upton 7-59-1TD, Jacob Kinsman 4-13-1TD, Aiden Peach 1-8, Keegan Glover 3-6-1TD, Tiffin Kouzoukas 1-2. WF-Hunter Stitely 13-61, Brady Melvin 15-13, Jax Scoville 1-1, #5 1-(-3), Gavin Mann 4-(-9), Thomas Claycamp 6-(-13).
PASSING: BEN- Keegan Glover 10-17-1int-251-3TD. WF- Gavin Mann 0-1-0int-0-0TD.
RECEIVING: BEN-Reid Baumgarte 4-79-2TD, Wyatt Upton 2-59-1TD, Jacob Kinsman 1-62, Aiden Peach 1-40, Zach Howell 1-13, Landon Bolen 1-(-2). WF-none.