by Steve Dunford

Benton QB Hamilton Page (10), with receivers Cade Thomas (4) and Joey Craig (18) wide to the right in Week 1 against Carterville (Thank you Lana Schilli for allowing me to use your pics)

The Pinckneyville Panthers make their second trip to Franklin County on consecutive Friday nights at they face off against the Benton Rangers tonight at Tabor Field.

The Panthers (0-2)  fell at Johnson field as The West Frankfort Redbirds defeated them 36-14.  The Rangers went on the road and defeated the Sparta Bulldogs 29-13.  Tonight, West Frankfort will be traveling to Sparta, as both teams traditionally switch off opponents in weeks two and three.

On last weeks victory, Benton Coach Bob Pankey had this to say about last week’s win at Sparta, “Sparta we racked up 440 yards of offense but only put 28 points on the board. We dropped 2 TD passes and we dropped an interception that would have definitely gone for a TD as well. So we left at least 18 points on the field. I like how our offense moved the ball LastFriday night We just have to finish more drives. I also felt like our defense rose up when it needed to and got stops, kind of a ‘bend but don’t break’ approach. To be able to win even though we didn’t play our best shows the resiliency of our guys. Now we just need to clean up those mistakes for tonight.  

Stats from the Week Two victory will be included at the end.

About the upcoming matchup with Pinckneyville tonight,   “Pinckneyville’s line is big on both sides of the ball and seem to play fairly physical. Their skill positions are mostly seniors which means they have some experience. They will be well coached…Coach Rushing does a good job. They work in a lot of jet motion and misdirection so we will need to play ‘assignment-sound’ football.”

This will be a good measuring stick to see how the Rangers stack up entering into SIRR Ohio division play next week.  With week one opponent Carterville travelling to Murphysboro, and West Frankfort going to Sparta tonight will be a good measuring stick to see as they have the unenvious task of going to Herrin to open conference play.

As of now, I would slot the SIRR-Ohio going in as; 1. Herrin, 2. Harrisburg 3. Benton 4/5 Murphysboro and/or West Frankfort and 6. Massac County.

I am going with the Rangers by 21 tonight.  It will be another notch in their belt for a team that I can see playing in Week 10.

Week 2 Stats against Sparta

Box Score Report – 9/1/2017 7:00 PM
BOX SCORE

Benton 6   23   0   0     -29
Sparta 6     7     0   0 –   13
SCORING PLAYS

Benton 1 12:00 #10 Hamilton Page pass complete to #4 Cade Thomas for 75 yards.
Touchdown! (Point after kick by #1 Ian McMahon no good)
6 – 0 Benton

Sparta 1 12:00 #3 pass complete to #4 for 22 yards. Touchdown! 6-6

Benton 2 12:00 #46 Blane Pankey runs for 4 yards. Touchdown! (Two point conversion pass by #10 Hamilton Page to #18 Joseph Craig good) 14- 6 Benton

Benton 2 12:00 #15 Andrew Dunn runs for 4 yards. Touchdown! (Point after kick by #1 Ian
McMahon good) 21- 6 Benton

Benton 2 12:00 #10 Hamilton Page pass complete to #7 Neal Carlton for 21 yards. Touchdown! (Two point conversion run by #46 Blane Pankey good) 29- 6 Benton

Benton 2 12:00 #10 Hamilton Page pass intended for Team. Intercepted by Team. (Point after
kick by #9 good) 29 -13  Benton

Ranger Stats to Date

Name                       G Att Yds Avg TD YPG
#46 Blane Pankey 2 21 172 8.2 1 86.0
#10 Hamilton Page 2 26 97 3.7 2 48.5
#15 Andrew Dunn 2 11 51 4.6 1 25.5
#4 Cade Thomas 2 1 10 10.0 0 5.0
#18 Joseph Craig 2 1 (-2) (-2.0) 0 (-1.0)

PASSING
Name                       G Cmp Att Yds TD Int YPG Pct QBR
#10 Hamilton Page 2 33 61 405 2 2 202.5 54.1% 114.1

RECEIVING
Name                     G Rec Yds Avg TD YPG
#4 Cade Thomas 2 12 150 12.5 1 75.0
#7 Neal Carlton   2 7 106 15.1 1 53.0
#99 Bailey Hopson 2 5 64 12.8 0 32.0
#18 Joseph Craig 2 6 57 9.5 0 28.5
#15 Andrew Dunn 2 1 23 23.0 0 11.5
#46 Blane Pankey 2 2 5 2.5 0 2.5

DEFENSE
Name                       Total Tackles Solo Assist Sack – Yds TFL Safeties Pass Breakups
#46 Blane Pankey 21 9 24 0 – 0 6 0 0
#12 Ty Gordon 9.5 8 3 0 – 0 3.5 0 2
#15 Andrew Dunn 9.5 6 7 0 – 0 1.5 0 0
#18 Joseph Craig 8 1 14 1 – 0 3.5 0 0
#76 Tyler Butler 7.5 5 5 1.5 – 0 1.5 0 1
#4 Cade Thomas 7 5 4 0 – 0 2.5 0 2
#68 Warren Smothers 7 3 8 0.5 – 0 1.5 0 0
#17 Caleb Pemberton 6 2 8 0 – 0 1 0 0
#7 Neal Carlton 5 2 6 0 – 0 0.5 0 1
#77 Tristan Bigham 3.5 0 7 0 – 0 0.5 0 0
#44 Dalton Roberts 1 0 2 0 – 0 0 0 0
#99 Bailey Hopson 1 1 0 0 – 0 0 0 0
#71 Austin Crawford 1 0 2 0 – 0 0.5 0 0
#66 Lane Kelley 1 0 2 0 – 0 0 0 0
#62 Carston Sanders 0.5 0 1 0 – 0 0.5 0 0
#9 Jaxon Williams 0.5 0 1 0 – 0 0 0 0

by Steve Dunford

The Benton Rangers in Week One put together  a stellar effort against the Carterville Lions, before falling late 28-15.  The game was tied going into the fourth quarter.

The Rangers against Carterville last Friday night. (Thank you Lana Schilli for use of the picture.)

Watching the game film last week, two of the things that impressed me was how Hamilton Page threw strikes to his intended targets, spreading it out to their intended receivers.  Also he called several names as well, as they spread the wealth among their running backs.

Both the offensive and defensive lines kept Luke Ford in check most of the game, especially the O’line.

Tonight Benton travels to Sparta, who lost to Freeburg last week 62-18.  Here is what Ranger Coach Bob Pankey had to say about tonight’s matchup.    “The keys for us will be to establish offensive momentum early, just like we did last Friday against Carterville, and defensively, to not give up big plays.”

We will go with the same lineup for the most part. We will also make a conscious effort to try to keep kids as fresh as possible as the game progresses. Having watched the game film from last Friday night, I felt like we played very hard and competed well to the end.

Defensively, we flew around and played physical. Offensively, we have to control the line of scrimmage a bit better, but we were able to work our pass game well, especially early on in the game. I feel like are poised to be able to climb and continue to get better, there are lots of good things we can continue to build on.”

From what I watched last Friday night, this could be a Ranger team that will be in the thick of things in the SIRR Ohio.  Harrisburg established themselves as the frontrunner after what they did at Mt. Carmel last Friday.

There are two games that I am going to pay close attention to tonight to see how the SIRR-Ohio will stack up.  That will be A-J and Murphysboro, and Carterville and Herrin.  I will watch the video of Carterville and Herrin this weekend.  If Muphy archives it (I know they have live video), I will watch the other game as well.

One thing I am starting to learn is keep game notes, programs, and every scribble mark from each game.   I remember from last year there was a very good QB and receiver that were freshmen that came in against West Frankfort last year when the game got out of reach.

Sparta always has good athletes and known as a track school.  Their football program has suffered over the last few years.  Tonight I am going with the Rangers in a 20 point win.  I will be writing a preview for a game in week 10 if this Benton bunch continues to build on week one.

If you can’t make the trip to Randolph County tonight, join Travis Severin and Danny Czerwinski on Q106.

Link to the Benton News preview.

http://www.bentoneveningnews.com/sports/20170831/benton-rangers-look-to-get-in-win-column-this-coming-friday

by Steve Dunford

Rangers Roster

Rangers Schedule

Nickname: Rangers
Head Coach: Bob Pankey
2016 Record: 4-5
2017 Classification Enrollment: 564.00

Aug 25 7:00 H Carterville 581.00
Sep 1 7:00 A Sparta 336.00
Sep 8 7:00 H Pinckneyville 418.00
Sep 15 7:00 A Herrin (H.S.) 757.00
Sep 23 12:00 A West Frankfort (Frankfort) 517.00
Sep 29 7:00 H Harrisburg 542.00
Oct 6 7:00 H Metropolis (Massac County) 591.00
Oct 13 7:00 A Murphysboro [Coop] 743.00
Oct 20 7:00 A Anna (A.-Jonesboro) 514.00

Link to WSIL-TV’s Sports Extra Preview

http://www.wsiltv.com/story/36194120/veteran-skill-players-leading-bentons-offense

One more win last season, and the Rangers would have been playing in week 10.  With one of the better quarterbacks that I watched last year, Hamilton Page, and Blaine Pankey in the backfield, the Rangers will be in the thick of things in the SIRR-Ohio.

Pankey will be behind the line waiting on the oppositions backfield in the linebacker slot.  Besides Page and Pankey returning starters for the Rangers are WR/DB’s Joey Craig and Cade Thomas, OL/LB Warren Smothers, offensive lineman Carston Sanders, linebacker Andrew Dunn, and defensive backs Neal Carlton and Ty Gordon.

The Rangers will have a tall task, going against the veteran Carterville coach Dennis Drust and TE/LB Luke Ford.  Ford verbally committed to Arkansas last spring, and pulled his commitment.  Several publications have Ford listed in the top two high school tight ends in the country.   He has drawn interest in most of the Big 10 and SEC programs, with Alabama coach Nick Saban has been in frequent contact with him.

Here is what Benton Coach Bob Pankey had to say about facing the Lions tonight, “Expect Carterville to be well coached and have some athletic kids, obviously Luke Ford is the biggest threat. We have to play sound technique football with few mistakes.”

About the Rangers overall this year, Coach Pankey had this to say about his team, “Our skill positions have a ton of experience with most as returning starters. We are still having to plug some holes in the offensive line. Our biggest weakness this year is lack of depth. We will have to be smart with how we practice and play to keep kids healthy.”

Each week, when I preview a game I will have a game of the week the four programs in Franklin County are participating in.  This is the week 1 game of the week.  I have watched Luke Ford play on film several times and live on the basketball floor.  This will be the opportunity to see a power five conference recruit.

This might be the Rangers toughest test of the year out of the gate.  If Benton stays healthy, there could be some Saturday afternoon November football beyond week nine.