CARTERVILLE – Junior quarterback Harley Vaughn rushed for two touchdowns and threw for two more in leading Carterville to a 33-6 season-opening victory over Benton.
The game was continued Saturday night, following lightning in the area on Friday. Carterville held a 14-0 lead when the teams retook the field for continued action.
Benton held the Lions in check through the final 10:17 of the second quarter, but failed to take advantage of a scoring opportunity when action resumed. Starting from the Lions’ 35 with a second down and 10 to go, the Rangers misfired on a pass, lost yardage on a running play and gained three of it back before giving the ball back on downs at Carterville’s 34.
Benton had one more scoring opportunity late in the second quarter. The Rangers moved from its 42 to the Lions’ 30, benefitting from a pass interference call. However, after a nice 6-yard run from reserve Andrew Dunn, the play was nullified by a holding call on the Rangers. Two incomplete passes and a sack forced the Rangers to punt near midfield.
First-year coach Bob Pankey said a score just before the halftime break could’ve turned the momentum in the Rangers’ favor.
“We were driving and down by one score, which changes the mindset completely,” he said. “That would’ve been huge had we been able to do that, absolutely. It may have given us a little bit of confidence and momentum offensively coming back in that second half.”
Carterville took a 20-0 lead midway through the third quarter on a Vaughn 43-yard jaunt. The Lions found much success offensively using the belly series and Vaughn did a perfect job of holding onto the ball until the last second before heading down the right sideline untouched. The touchdown culminated a nine-play, 92-yard drive.
The Lions tacked on a score in the closing seconds of the third period when Vaughn threw a 26-yard fade pass in the left corner of the end zone to Justin Johnson.
The final Carterville score came with 8:19 left in the game on a 5-yard run by reserve back Kaden Turner.
Determined to score, Benton put together an 11-play drive that ate up about four minutes off the clock – culminated by a Hamilton Page 3-yard run. Page ran for 36 yards on the 77-yard drive and got several good rushes from sophomore running back Andrew Dunn.
Benton will play its first home game at Tabor Field on Friday night, hosting Sparta, which also lost its opener
