Benton Academy couldn’t hold onto their early lead against Union and eventually fell 44-42 in double overtime.
It looked like Benton would reign supreme in the first half.
A strong ground game helped Benton earn the upper hand in the contest early. The trio of Bruner Chandler, Cody Prescott, and Harris Dooley gashed Union for big chunks of yards at a time, and the Benton defense relentlessly corralled Union’s playmakers.
At the half, Benton held a commanding 20-8 lead and looked poised to run away with the contest.
But Union came out of the break with passion and fire. They returned the second half kickoff for a touchdown to cut Benton’s lead to 20-14.
By the end of regulation, Union had caught up to Benton, and the 28-28 score meant it was time for overtime.
Union received the ball first in OT and quickly scored and converted a 2-pt. attempt, but Benton was able to match them with a touchdown and 2-pt. of their own to make it a 36-36 game. On to 2OT they went.
On their possession in 2OT, Harris Dooley took the ball in for the score, but their 2-pt. attempt was no good, giving Union a golden opportunity to take the win.
They did just that. After a touchdown and 2-pt. conversion, Union won 44-42.
According to Benton Academy head football coach Kenny Burton, the Raiders simply weren’t able to win the game when they had the opportunity.
“I don’t know that we ran out of gas so much as we got too relaxed,” Burton said. “We had a chance to knock them out and didn’t take it. They just kept fighting the whole game.”
One of the biggest issues that plagued the Raiders was more mental than physical.
Burton believes that “mind exhaustion” is something they need to work on to reach their eventual goal.
“Physical conditioning was as much of an issue as what I call mind exhaustion,” Burton said. “Our kids gave great effort. We just have to learn to win these types of games. We’ve talked to our kids about it. We have to learn to play even when we’re tired.”
Bruner Chandler had a big game for the Raiders on offense, rushing 19 times for 142 yards.
Cody Prescott was right behind Bruner with 16 rushes for 123 yards.
Harris Dooley rounded out the ground attack for the Raiders with 15 rushes for 66 yards.
The defensive effort was led by Gage Jones, who had a team-high 12 total tackles.
Next up for the Raiders is a massive home match-up against rival Tri-County Academy.
The Rebels are 1-1 on the season after dropping a 24-21 game to St. Joe (Madison) on Friday night.
Burton understands that the game will be both extremely tough and an opportunity to showcase just how far his team has come.
“We’ve got a big test this week we play Tri-County,” Burton said. “We had a long three and a half hour practice earlier in the week to help us learn to play when we’re tired. We’ve had a good week. We know that Tri-County is going to be good. This will help us see where we’re at as a team.”
Kickoff for the highly anticipated contest is set for 7 p.m.
