Friday night’s season opener in Concord didn’t go according to plan for Benicia High’s varsity football team.
The Panthers gave up 26 unanswered points in the first quarter and never recovered en route to a 48-13 thrashing by the Concord Minutemen. The 48 points were the most the Panthers had allowed since a 57-41 loss to Casa Roble in the 2011 playoffs, and it was the worst defeat for Benicia since a 57-7 drubbing by Fairfield in 2008.
“We played too soft,” said senior Tristan Batten, who scored one of Benicia’s two touchdowns on the night and had a 99-yard kickoff return called back because of an illegal block. “We just weren’t prepared.”
“Concord is definitely a good team and they executed a whole lot better than we did,” said Benicia head coach Craig Holden. “We’ll have to go back to the drawing board.”
Benicia’s offense managed only one first down the entire first half and only five first downs for the game as Concord (1-0) held the Panthers to only 28 yards rushing – and that included a 44-yard touchdown run by Batten that made it 40-13 in the third quarter. With the running game virtually non-existent, the Minutemen teed off on junior quarterback Riley Pitkin, who completed only 11-of-24 passes for 107 yards and two interceptions in his first varsity start.
“It was a rough half,” Holden said. “They shut our run down and forced us to pass and we didn’t execute the way we wanted to execute.”
“We shut down offensively and just couldn’t get anything going,” Batten added.
Concord quarterback Mitch Daniels did a great impersonation of Peyton Manning, completing 30-of-47 passes for 462 yards and three TDs. Daniels completed passes to seven different receivers who often out-muscled the Benicia secondary for the ball.
“We had a lot of breakdowns and he was just picking apart our defense,” said Benicia linebacker Tom Maday.
“Their receivers came down with a lot of balls that I thought we had picked,” Holden said. “There’s a reason why their quarterback and a couple of their receivers are on the college watch list.”
The Panther offense went three-and-out on its first two possessions, and Concord’s Edwin Mundo and Josh Wiens each picked off passes on Benicia’s next two possessions. Meanwhile, the Minutemen marched over, around and through Benicia’s defense, scoring touchdowns on each of their first four possessions for a commanding 26-0 lead.
Concord marched 76 yards on five plays on its first possession, ending with a 31-yard TD pass from Daniels to Jed Gwynn. Daniels later capped a seven-play, 72-yard drive with a 1-yard plunge and running back Malik Blackburn made it 20-0 with an 8-yard TD run. Daniels connected with Blackburn for a 22-yard scoring strike with 52 seconds left in the opening quarter, and the rout was on.
“It wasn’t a lack of effort,” Holden said of his defense. “Our guys were out there trying.”
The Panthers (0-1) looked like they might get back in the game early in the second quarter when Pitkin hit Armani Dickerson for a 20-yard completion and later hooked up with Weston Carr for a 18-yard touchdown pass. Benicia’s defense also began to stiffen, forcing Concord to turn the ball over on downs and having defensive back Kyle Hanson-Regalado intercept a pass at the Benicia 10.
But the comeback was a mirage. Pitkin was sacked in the end zone for a safety and Blackburn made it 34-6 on a 6-yard TD run with 24 seconds left in the half.
In case the Panthers still had hopes of mounting a comeback, Concord opened the second half with an eight-play, 66-yard scoring drive ending in a 2-yard plunge by Blackburn. The senior scored four TDs on the night, rushed for 106 yards on 12 carries and also caught six passes for 87 yards.
Batten broke off his 44-yard TD run late in the third quarter, but it was too little, too late for the Panthers.
Concord out-gained the Panthers 638-135 and had 23 first downs to Benicia’s five.
The Panthers hope to put forth a better effort in their home opener this coming Friday against Windsor.
“It ’s great motivation to practice as hard as we can next week and come back at the top of our game,” Maday said.
Benicia senior DeMarea Jackson was ejected in the second half for throwing a punch during a Concord punt return and will have to sit out Friday’s home opener.
It was a rough season opener for the entire Benicia High football program. The junior varsity fell behind 28-0 before scoring a touchdown with less than two minutes remaining. The freshmen didn’t find the end zone at all and lost 7-0 to Justin-Siena on Thursday.
Concord 48, Benicia 13
Benicia 0 6 7 0 – 13
Concord 26 8 6 8 – 48
First Quarter
Con – Gwynn 31 pass from Daniels (Capers run), 9:01
Con – Daniels 1 run (run failed), 6:34
Con – Blackburn 9 run (pass failed), 2:49
Con – Blackburn 22 pass from Daniels (pass failed), 0:52
Second Quarter
Ben – Carr 18 pass from Pitkin (pass failed), 11:46
Con – Safety, Pitkin tackled in end zone, 1:40
Con – Blackburn 6 run (run failed), 0:24
Third Quarter
Con – Blackburn 2 run (pass failed), 8:35
Ben – Batten 44 run (Sinclair kick), 1:31
Fourth Quarter
Con – Capers 17 pass from Daniels (Brekle pass from Daniels), 8:04
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Benicia Concord
First downs 5 23
Rushes-yards 14-28 26-176
Passing yards 107 462
Comp-Att-Int 11-24-2 30-47-1
Total offense 135 638
Penalties-yards 16-130 9-85
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Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Benicia – Batten 5-31, Butler 4-4, Osterholt 2-1, Pitkin 3-minus 8; Concord – Blackburn 12-106, Tidwell 9-61, Daniels 4-6, Capers 1-3.
PASSING: Benicia – Pitkin 11-24-2-107; Concord – Daniels 30-47-1-462.
RECEIVING: Benicia – Shelley 5-42, Carr 3-42, Dickerson 2-27, Butler 1-minus 4; Concord – Gwynn 8-93, Knight 7-80, Blackburn 6-87, Brekle 3-62, Capers 3-50, Hollars 2-13, Tidwell 1-6.
JV Score = Concord 28, Benicia 6
Freshman Score = Justin-Siena 7, Benicia 0