The early season struggles for Benton Academy continued on Friday night when they fell 37-6 to Hartfield Academy.
Hartfield struck early and often in the contest.
The Hawks scored 37 straight points to put the Raiders in an insurmountable hole.
The Raiders, however, showed a bit of resiliency and fight at the end.
With 1:48 remaining in the game, Benton quarterback Harris Dolley found the end zone, giving the Raiders six points when it would have been easy to accept 0.
According to Benton Academy head coach Kenny Burton, the games against bigger schools can be a gamble.
“Hartfield was another very good football team,” Burton said. “They were a 3A team. There are pluses and minuses to playing bigger schools. You get better playing those teams, but if you lose, kids can start questioning themselves.”
Burton has some issues that he wants to see addressed for his team to be a success.
“The key for us is playing better defense,” Burton said. “We were in position a lot, but we have to make plays. We actually moved the ball really well. I want to see more excitement and energy out of our team. Once we have that, we may have a pretty good football team”
Cody Prescott played well, putting up 184 total all-purpose yards.
Next up for Benton is their first divisional foe, Winston Academy, who is 1-1 after defeating Winona Christian 39-6 on Friday night.
Kickoff at Winston Academy is set for 7 p.m.
