Football Preview: Savannah Savages vs. Benton Cardinals
Savannah is 9-1 against Benton since September of 2014, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Savannah Savages are taking a road trip to square off against the Benton Cardinals at 7:00 p.m. Savannah's defense has only allowed 5.2 points per game this season, so Benton's offense will have their work cut out for them.
Savannah took a loss when they played away from home last Friday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Friday. They took their game at home with ease, bagging a 53-0 victory over Lafayette. Given the Savages' advantage in MaxPreps' Missouri football rankings (they are ranked 96th, while the Fighting Irish are ranked 215th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
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. The team also got some help courtesy of Jaiden Martinez, who gained 122 total yards and a touchdown.
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 posted was before the start of last season.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Savannah's defense and their four sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Kegan Bechtold and Braylon Ellis, who racked up all four sacks between them. Savannah got some further help from Gage Bowland: he made 11 total tackles (1.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, Benton fell victim to University Academy Charter/Kauffman and their airtight defense on Saturday. They took a hard 16-0 fall against the Gryphons. The Cardinals just can't catch a break and have now endured three losses in a row.
The win got Savannah back to even at 2-2. As for Benton, their defeat dropped their record down to 1-3.
Everything came up roses for Savannah against Benton in their previous meeting back in September of 2023 as the team secured a 50-0 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Savannah since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
