Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Devin Bowling (6) takes the handoff. Bowling had a big night running the ball and scored a TD to help propel Benson to a 12-6 victory over Morenci.
By Jon Johnson
MORENCI – It was a battle of unbeaten teams Friday night when the Benson Bobcats clawed their way up the hill to face the Morenci Wildcats.
Morenci (2-1 region, 4-1 overall) held Benson (2-0 region, 4-0 overall) scoreless in the second half, but two early first-quarter touchdowns were all the Bobcats would need as they left Lawson Stadium with a 12-6 victory.
“Sometimes the ball just doesn’t bounce your way,” said Morenci head coach Joseph Garcia. “I’m super proud of my guys for battling the whole game. There’s just a couple things we need to fix and we’ll be right there.”
Benson opened up by running the ball right down Morenci’s throat as junior Jace Barney picked up 14 to put the Bobcats in the red zone.
Junior Devin Bowling then took it in from 16 yards out and Benson jumped out to a 6-0 lead.
After having its ground attack stopped on its first possession, Morenci took to the air but Benson junior Brok Determan stepped in front of Morenci sophomore Daylen Johnson’s offering and set up Benson with a short field at the Wildcats’ 34.
Benson then capitalized on the turnover and Barney bowled his way in from 8 yards out to put Benson up 12-0.
Morenci had a shot to score late in the second quarter after Maddux Martinez came off the edge and unloaded on Determan for the sack-fumble, which was recovered by Jericho Sanchez.
However, Benson played I can do anything you can do and on 3rd and 3 from the Bobcats’ 8-yard line, Tristan Martinez separated Morenci sophomore quarterback Daylen Johnson from the ball on its own sack-fumble and Benson went into halftime up 12-0.
The Wildcats came out fired up in the third quarter and after one 20-yard reverse by Derek Saenz found themselves in Benson’s territory at the 40.
Johnson then had one of his best plays of the night as he dropped way back but couldn’t find anyone open, so he took off and ran all the way back to the left sideline to give Morenci a 1st and goal from the 10-yard line.
Patrick Chavez then took the handoff and almost scored but came up just short of the goal line, giving Morenci 2nd and inches to go.
After Johnson couldn’t quite punch it in on second down and Morey got tripped up on 3rd down, Morenci faced 4th and goal from the 1.
Johnson then jammed it home, with the assistance of his running backs helping move the pack into the endzone and Morenci was in the ball game but still down, 12-6.
Benson ran the ball methodically back down the field and was looking to score when Barney mishandled the handoff and Gavin Baca recovered for Morenci.
After a couple of changes of possession, Benson was again moving the ball but Morenci held on 4th and 9 and its offense had one more shot.
Johnson took it with a deep pass down the middle to Baca, who had the ball just bounce off his hands and the potential game-tying TD pass fell to the ground incomplete.
Morenci punted the ball with a little more than four minutes left in the game and didn’t get it back as Benson ran out the clock and left with the victory, 12-6.
“It was a tale of two halves,” said Benson head coach Chris Determan. “Two good teams came out here, played hard, doing their thing.”
Determan said both teams had their miscues with turnovers and that Benson was fortunate to capitalize one more time than Morenci.
“They had the same thing in the second half,” he said. “We had turnovers and they just didn’t capitalize one less than we did. That was it. It’s always good to come up here. It’s always a good fight.”
“Benson is a great ball club,” Garcia said. “We were super excited for that opportunity. Nine times out of 10 who knows? We’re pretty evenly matched, and, hopefully, we get another shot at them.”
In other local action, Safford (0-1 region, 3-1 overall) beat Coolidge, 24-21. Thatcher (1-1 region, 2-3 overall) beat Florence, 49-38. Pima (1-1 region, 1-2 overall) got its first win of the season over Tombstone, 52-7. And Duncan (0-3 region, 0-5 overall) lost to Lincoln Prep.
