Danny Czerwinski
Section618.com
CHESTER – Teams playing each other who don’t normally see each other makes the spice of football very nice. Friday night, the Benton Rangers traveled to Chester to play the Yellow Jackets for the first time since 1997. Benton broke open a close game in the first half and rolled, winning 54-6.
The game started out innocently enough with the teams getting to know each other. After a Chester drive that ended with a fumble, the Rangers took a quick advantage. Tiffin Kouzoukas’ 3-yard touchdown run capped an eight play drive that took nearly four minutes. The kick was good and Benton lead 7-0 to end the first quarter.
Chester came back with the answer. It was a six play drive of 56 yards. The drive ended with a 25-yard touchdown run by Koby Jany, but the 2-point conversion failed, keeping Benton in the lead 7-6 with 9:43 left in the first half.
At that point, the Rangers offense exploded, closing the half with 18 straight points. It started with a 25-yard field goal from Jesser Zepeda to give Benton a 10-6 lead with 6:58 left in the first half.
After a Chester drive stalled on downs, the Rangers marched down the field on a five play, 84 yard drive. It ended with a 44-yard touchdown pass from Kouzoukas to Grant Owens. The 2 point conversion was good, and the Rangers led 18-6 with 1:35 left in the half.
After an interception, Kouzoukas found Owens again, this time for a 46-yard touchdown. The extra point kick was good for a 25-6 Rangers lead at the half.
The second half played out much the same way the first half ended. Benton added four unanswered touchdowns. Wyatt Upton scored on a pair of touchdown runs in the third quarter from 10 and three yards out. In the fourth, AJ Craven picked up a fumble and returned it for a touchdown. Kouzoukas capped the scoring with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Nolan Schafer.
The Rangers’ defense held the Yellow Jackets to 31 total yards for the game, including no first downs in the second half. Offensively for Benton, Kouzoukas finished 16-18 passing for 265 yards and three touchdowns. Owens hauled in seven of those passes for 143 yards and two scores. Upton tallied 104 yards rushing scored twice on nine carries.
The Rangers improve to 1-1 and will play at 1-1 Pinckneyville next week. The Yellow Jackets drop to 0-2 and will travel to 2-0 Freeburg.