By RayJaun Stelly, The Seattle Medium
Overcast weather the stage was set for the Benson Bruins 12U team and the undefeated Heir 11U to take over French Field in their first matchup of the year. Both teams came into the game with commanding wins and looked to improve their records. From the moment their team captains met at midfield to see who’d receive first possession, fans and players were ready for football.
Benson’s first series was difficult and that’s credited to Heir’s defense, who forced two false start penalties and recorded a tackle for loss to start the game. The negative yards that pushed the Bruins in the wrong direction resulted in a quick three-and-out to bring out their special teams’ unit.
Heir’s first possession was short lived, as a tackle for loss and holding penalty set the Bruins defense up for success as Dauve Hunter jumped the receiver’s route for a ‘pick 6’ to give Benson an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter. Heir seemed to have responded quickly with a kickoff return for a touchdown, until another holding penalty negated their points.
Catching a break, Benson’s defense capitalized with the help of Jamari Jones’ one-on-one defense in which he deflected a pass and forced a dropped pass from Heir’s receiver. These two plays resulted in a turnover on downs.
Making headway, the Bruins put the ball in Kemarjae Davis’ hands to establish their rushing attack until Heir’s Andrew Peapea would get past the offensive line and strip sack the quarterback. Peapea would recover the football and return it 70 yards for a touchdown. Completing the two-point conversion, Heir would take an 8-7 lead heading into the second quarter.
In the second quarter, the game’s pattern of back and forth scoring continued. Benson’s 10-play drive to start the second quarter was capped off with a one-yard touchdown run by Markell Newell. Heir, despite another penalty and being tackled for a loss managed to prevail thanks to their quarterback Cordae Norling finding Derrick Deloney on a slant route for a 30-yard touchdown to regain the lead.
Taking the lead twice in two quarters, once Heir went up 14-13, and would keep the lead for the remainder of the game. Defensive dominance displayed by Heir against Benson’s on their fourth offensive possession before halftime carried over with them to the second half as they forced three penalties, an incomplete pass, and a sack before Benson punted the ball away.
Now with the ball plus an opportunity to score before halftime, Heir would do just that as quickly as possible thanks to Norling throwing his second touchdown pass of the first half for 30-yards to extend their lead to 22-13.
With momentum and the score on their side, Heir would increase their lead to double just three plays into the second half courtesy of Derrick Deloney’s five-yard touchdown run, and with the game seeming like it was getting out of reach for Benson, the Bruins would respond.
The Bruins would go into their bags of tricks on fourth and eight with a fake punt that resulted in Jamari Jones escaping from defenders and rushing for a 55-yard touchdown, but this would be Benson’s final touchdown of the afternoon as Heir went on to score 25 unanswered points in route to a 47-19 victory over Benson.
With the win, the Heir 11U team remained undefeated and will put their winning streak on the line against the 253 Spartans next week. Benson will look to regroup on their home field as they host the Jr Huskies.
