Benicia High’s varsity football team turned in another dominating performance Friday night, crushing the host Vallejo Redhawks, 54-6, at Corbus Field.
It was the fourth straight win for the Panthers, who improved to 4-3 overall and 2-0 in the Solano County Athletic Conference, tied with American Canyon for first place. Benicia has outscored its opponents 174-27 during the winning streak and appeared nearly unstoppable against the helpless Redhawks (1-6, 0-2 SCAC).
“All aspects of our game were working,” said Benicia head coach Craig Holden. “We came out and executed well and played well.”
The Panthers blew the game open with a 26-point second quarter and eventually led 47-0. The final 13:19 of the game was played under a running clock.
“We had the game over by halftime and that’s what a good team does,” Holden said. “We proved early who the better team was.”
While the offense was putting up a season-high 54 points, the defense came a little over a quarter from posting its third straight shutout. Evan Austrie’s 68-yard touchdown run made it 47-6 with 2:27 left in the third quarter, ending Benicia’s run of 10 straight shutout quarters.
Austrie’s TD run was one of only two plays where Vallejo gained more than nine yards as the Redhawks had more penalty yards (159) than total yards (119). Vallejo had only four first downs all night, three coming on Benicia penalties.
Fights between the two bitter rivals nearly broke out on several occasions, but the Panthers didn’t take the bait.
“We didn’t let them get into our heads,” said Benicia senior Alex Osterholt.
Osterholt ignited the Panthers when he spun out of a tackle and raced down the left sideline for a 44-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter. Quarterback Riley Pitkin went to work on Benicia’s next possession, completing passes to Osterholt and Tristan Batten for a first-and-goal from the 2, where Batten plunged in to make it 13-0.
Weston Carr caught a pass over the middle, broke a tackle and raced 46 yards for a TD, and Batten capped a seven-play drive with a 2-yard TD plunge to make it 26-0. Carr caught his second touchdown of the night – and team-leading fifth of the season – when he got a step ahead of a defender and caught a 32-yard pass to make it 33-0 at the break.
Josiah Peterson, DeMarea Jackson and John Butler each ran for their first touchdowns of the season in the third quarter to make it 47-0. Benicia rushed for 237 yards and Pitkin threw for 209 yards and two TDs with no interceptions.
Carr had three catches for 108 yards and Osterholt rushed for 81 yards on only three carries. A dozen different Panthers carried the ball during the blowout.
The Panthers have a much tougher schedule ahead, starting with a return trip to Corbus Field next Friday for a game against Bethel.
“We’re getting closer as a team and I think we’ll be ready,” Osterholt said.
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