Benjamin pulls away from Loraine to claim 1A DII state championship
ARLINGTON, Texas — Loraine traded punches with top-ranked Benjamin early but could not keep up in the end, falling to the Mustangs 68-20 via mercy rule early in the third quarter.
AJ Williams got the Bulldogs off to a great start with a 60-yard touchdown run on the second play from scrimmage. When Benjamin answered, Williams scored again on a 13-yard run to put Loraine on top 14-8. That would be their last lead, however, as Mustang sophomore star Grayson Rigdon started to take over.
Loraine junior AJ Williams scores a first quarter touchdown
Rigdon ran for 255 yards and five touchdowns and added two more passing to earn Offensive MVP accolades for the second straight season — last year he was at Strawn. He was hard for Loraine’s tough defense to bring down and matched the Bulldogs early touchdown runs by AJ Williams with scores of his own to give the Mustangs a 24-14 lead after one quarter.
“The kid is a player,” said Loraine head coach Jake Popham. “That’s the bottom line. I don’t know what else to say.”
Benjamin’s Grayson Ridgon goes in for one of his five touchdowns
The key play of the game came just before the half with Loraine down 38-20, but on the move in Benjamin territory. Williams had the ball stripped by Rigdon and Brody White picked it up and took it back 58-yards to pad the Mustang lead. The played was reviewed to see if Williams was trying to pass, and it looked like he may have been, but the call on the field was not overturned and Benjamin led 46-20 at the break.
Popham said, “We had a turnover right there before the half and they capitalized on it like good defenses do and put a touchdown in and put us down 24 by the end of the half. It’s just one of those things and a situation like that is the worst thing that could happen to us and the best thing that could happen for them.”
“It was huge,” said Benjamin head coach Nathan Hayes. “We just gave up a big play and before you know it we get that big stop and go in and score and that sets up another score with us getting the ball after halftime.”
The Bulldogs could not get on the board in the third quarter and saw Ridgon score twice from 60 and 23-yards and then throw the mercy rule invoking 49-yard touchdown pass to John Wolffarth to end the ballgame early.
John Wolffarth’s game ending touchdown catch
“When you come to a state championship game you expect to play a great football team and we saw that tonight. We thought we had a good game plan coming in, we just didn’t execute it as well as we wanted to and that was the difference in the ballgame,” said Popham.
The Mustangs beat the Bulldogs 61-30 in the regular season and took care of business in the rematch as well.
Loraine gained a very respectable 299 yards in the game and gave up 363.
After the game Benjamin defensive coordinator Jamie Ridgon sang the ultimate praise of his defense. “This starting defense gave up less than 100 points this year. I want you to think about that in six-man football. Less than 100 in 14 games. That’s unheard of. I’m not going to say this is the best defense ever because I won’t disrespect the people that played before us but I’ll tell you you’ve got to show me a better one.”
Despite the loss, Loraine will head back west with its head held high. The Bulldogs made it state for the first time in program history, a feat that will not soon be forgotten in Mitchell County. Popham stated, “It couldn’t be a bigger deal for our community. This is something every kid goes to bed when they’re young thinking about and these kids were able to accomplish it. It didn’t work out the way we wanted it to but at the end of the day we’re where we wanted to be, we just didn’t end up on the right end of the podium. We’re exactly where we thought we would be a year ago, we’re just not on the winners stand. That’s the only difference.”
“It was special,” said Loraine senior Davion Walthall. “We’ve always dreamed about it since we were kids. We all grew up together and all been working hard our whole lives. We always knew we could be here. We were hoping we would get the gold but we made it and that was our goal.”
“I wouldn’t trade any of these guys,” Popham added. “I can’t say enough good things about these guys. They have done everything I’ve ever asked them as a team throughout my five years here. I wouldn’t trade them for anyone. We’ll always ride or die with what we bring.”
