Beavers Give 2A Ranked Bobcats Quite A Game

By Ryan Stonebraker
Sports Editor
  WILTON — Both teams were undefeated. Both teams were ranked in their respective classes. Only one team could win. Last Friday, the Benton Bobcats came to Wilton to play the Beavers in the final non-district game for both teams. There, the Bobcats won 26-13 handing the Beavers their first loss of the season. Wilton falls to 3-1 overall as they head into their district opener this week against at home against Sigourney-Keota. The Savage Cobras come to town with a record of 3-1 as well. Sigourney-Keota beat Eddyville-Blakesburg 48-34 last week and have scored 42 or more points in two of the last three weeks. In the latest Radio Iowa football poll, Benton is ranked No. 4 in class 2A and Wilton is ranked No. 5 in class 1A.

  Wilton came to play and had a very good first quarter. The Beavers snuffed out the Run-Pass-Option plays that the Bobcats are known for this year and held Benton scoreless in the opening quarter. Wilton scored first in the game and with 1:52 left in the opening quarter, Jerome Mays found Ronen Santiago for a 13-yard touchdown pass. After a Brock Hartley PAT, Wilton led 7-0.

  Benton found their way in the second quarter, scoring two touchdowns and taking advantage of Wilton penalties. Benton scored the first of two touchdowns with 5:36 left before halftime, when Matt Davis found a seam and scored from 22 yards out. The PAT kick was now good, and Wilton still led 7-6. Late in the half, under a minute, the Bobcats scored again. Bobcat quarterback Clayton Krousie connected with Jack Shaw on a 4-yard touchdown pass with just 22 seconds left before halftime to give the Bobcats their first lead, 12-7. Benton would miss on a two-point conversion try, as the score was 12-7 at halftime.

  Benton took control of the game in the third quarter, scoring two touchdowns, both in the third quarter. Davis scored his second rushing score with 8:49 left in the third, from 24 yards out and Krousie rushed for a 12-yard touchdown with 3:55 left in the quarter to set the score at 26-7.

  Wilton kept fighting. The Beavers would cross the goal line one more time in the fourth quarter. With less than ten seconds left in the game, Jerome Mays found CHantz Stevens for a 3-yard touchdown pass to set the final score at 26-13. It was Stevens first touchdown catch this season.

  Wilton had more first downs than Benton 17-to-15 and more total yards, 302-to-248. Wilton had 131 yards of rushing with a per yard rush average of 3.4 yards. Benton corralled Wilton’s leading rusher, Collin McCrabb in the game. McCrabb had 100-yard games in each of the first three games and nearly 350 yards on the ground. In this game, McCrabb led Wilton with 36 yards on 19 carries.

  Jerome Mays passed for 171 yards on 16-for-28 attempts and two touchdowns. McCrabb caught a team high four passes for 46 yards while Chantz Stevens caught three passes for 24 yards.

  Defensively, Wilton was led by Jared Townsend with 7 tackles and Mays and Brock Hartley with 6 tackles each.

  Benton had 248 yards of total offense with 174 rushing and 74 passing yards. Matt Davis rushed for 144 yards on 17 carries and scored two touchdowns. He averaged 8.5 yards per carry. Clay Krousie passed for 79 yards with his favorite target being Jack Shaw who caught seven passes for 61 yards and a touchdown. Wyatt Bieschke led Benton in tackles with 10.Through four non-district games, quarterback Jerome Mays is on pace to top 1,000 passing yards for the season. Mays will enter district play with 416 passing yards on 44-of-77 attempts with 5 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. He also has rushed for 354 yards and five touchdowns.

  Receiver Cory Anderson leads Wilton with 16 receptions for 167 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Collin McCrabb leads Wilton in rushing with 384 yards and 2 touchdowns and averages 4.9 yards per carry.

  Defensively, Wiltons leading tackler after the non-district schedule is Anderson with 29 stops Brock Hartley has 26 and McCrabb 25. Chantz Stevens, Ashton Stoelk and Anderson each ahd interceptions.


Team Summary:

WIL BEN
First Downs 17 15
Rushes-Ave. 38-3.4 29-6.0
Rush yards 131 174
Pass C-A-I 16-28-1 12-23-0
Pass yards 173 74
Returns-yds. 3-42 2-40
Penalties-yds. 6-50 8-82
Turnovers 2 0
Time of Poss. 26:34 21:26
Total Yards 302 248

Quarter Scores:

1 2 3 4 Final

Benton 0 12 14 0 26
Wilton 7 0 0 6 13

Scoring Summary:
1st Qtr (1:52) - WIL - Ronen Santiago 13-yard pass from Jerome Mays (Brock Hartley kick)
2nd Qtr (5:36) - B - Matthew Davis 22-yard run (Zach Brecht kick no good)
2nd Qtr (0:22) - B - Jack Shaw 4-yard pass from Clayton Krousie (Zach Brecht kick no good)
3rd Qtr (8:49) - B - Matthew Davis 24-yard run (Zach Brecht kick)
3rd Qtr (3:55) - B - Clayton Krousie 12-yard run (Zach Brecht kick)
4th Qtr (0:03) - WIL - Chantz Stevens 3-yard pass from Jerome Mays (Brock Hartley kick no good)

Individual Statistics:
Rushing: Benton - Matt Davis 17-144, Clay Krousie 6-26, Jack Shaw 2-15, Cade Timmerman 2-1. Wilton - Collin McCrabb 19-36, Jerome Mays 14-51, Brian Stillman 4-56.

Passing: Benton - Clay Krousie 11-for-23 75 yards 1 TD, 0 INT’s. Wilton - Jerome Mays 16-for-28 171 yards 2 TD’s, 1 INT.

Receiving: Benton - Jack Shaw 7-55, Nathan Michels 1-12, Jacob Thompson 1-4, Matt Davis 1-2, Wyatt Bieschke 1-2. Wilton - Collin McCrabb 4-43, Chantz Stevens 3-24, Ronen Santiago 2-20, Garratt Bohnsack 1-23, Brock Hartley 1-11.

Defensive Statistics:
Tackles (S-A-T):
Benton - Jacob Stocker 3-8 11, Easton Werner 3-5 8, Ian Rupp 4-6 10, Wyatt Bieschke 3-5 8, Jack Shaw 3-2 5, Nathan Michels 3-1 4, Matt Davis 3-1 4, Drew Lange 2-1 3, Ethan Weirather 2-1 3, Adam Hansen 1-0 1, Jackson Kithcart 1-0 1, Blake Osborn 1-0 1, Will Polansky 1-0 1, Turner Schroeder 1-0 1, Jacob Thompson 1-0 1, Cade Timmerman 1-0 1.

Wilton - Jared Townsend 3-4 7, Jerome Mays 3-3 6, Brock Hartley 4-2 6, Pat Barazczski 0-5 5, Collin McCrabb 0-4 4, Brian Stillman 1-3 4, Charles Martin 0-4 4, Clayton Cooling 1-3 4, Calib Lilly 1-2 3, Garrett Bohnsack 0-2 2, Brayton Wade 0-2 2, Chantz Stevens 0-1 1, Ronen Santiago 0-1 1, Ashton Stoelk 0-1 1, A. J. Bosten 1-0 1, Jacob Creamer 0-1 1.

Tackles for Loss: Benton - Easton Werner 4, Ethan Weirather 2, Jacob Stocker 1. Wilton - Jerome Mays 1, Brock Hartley 1, Clayton Cooling 1, Jared Townsend 1.

Sacks: Benton - Ethan Weirather 1. Wilton - Jared Townsend 1.

Pass Knockdowns: Wilton - Garrett Bohnsack 3, Cory Anderson 2, Jerome Mays 1.

Kicking Statistics:
KickOffs: Benton - Blake Osborn 5-235. Wilton - Brock Hartley 2-103, 51.5-yard ave.; Jared Townsend 1-22, 22.0-yard ave.

KickOff Returns: Benton - Jack Shaw 2-41, Blake Osborn 1-0. Wilton - Brian Stillman 1-27.

Punts: Benton - Dylan Spina 5-193 yards 38.6-yard ave. Wilton - Jared Townsend 3-82 yards, 27.3-ave.

Punt Returns: Benton - Jack Shaw 2-0. Wilton - Collin McCrabb 1-8, Cory Anderson 1-7.

PAT’s: Benton - Zach Brecht 2-for-4. Wilton - Brock Hartley 1-for-2.