Football Preview: Benton Cardinals vs. Savannah Savages
Benton is 1-9 against Savannah since September of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Benton Cardinals will welcome the Savannah Savages at 7:00 p.m.
Benton's offense might be in the hot seat on Friday considering what happened against University Academy Charter/Kauffman on Saturday. They took a hard 16-0 fall against the Gryphons. The Cardinals' loss continues a trend for the squad, making it three in a row.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Savannah). They breezed by Lafayette at home to the tune of 53-0 on Friday. The high-flying offensive performance was a huge turnaround for the Savages considering their six-point performance the match before.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Savannah to victory, but perhaps none more so than Aiden Knechtenhofer, who rushed for 88 yards and three touchdowns. Another receiver making a difference was Jaiden Martinez, who gained 122 total yards and a touchdown.
Another reason for the win was Savannah's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for four sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Kegan Bechtold and Braylon Ellis, who racked up all four sacks between them. Another thorn in Lafayette's side was Gage Bowland, who made 11 total tackles (1.0 for loss).
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Savannah was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 348 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Benton's defeat dropped their record down to 1-3. As for Savannah, the victory got them back to even at 2-2.
Benton was dealt a bruising 50-0 loss at the hands of Savannah when the teams last played back in September of 2023. Thankfully for Benton, Cade Chappell (who rushed for 191 yards and three touchdowns on only 11 carries) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
