No. 29 Palo Verde, in position to possibly make the 2A playoffs with a win over visiting Benson, had that goal adversely affected by the No. 16 Bobcats 56-6 on Friday night.
The 2A state bracket will be announced Saturday morning.
Palo Verde has the honor of achieving a winning season for the first time since 2009 at 6-4.
While the scoreboard might not reflect it, the Titans did not stop fighting throughout the game.
Kameron Pippen left it all on the field in his final game, finishing with 21 receiving yards, five passing yards, and 22 rushing yards, delivering some punishing runs on the ground. Quarterback Jackson Tyson also gave it his best effort, ending with 94 yards through the air and a touchdown.
Benson (6-4) was able to jump out to an early lead, scoring on its first drive on a 35-yard strike from senior quarterback Dawson Judd to receiver Jason Santo. The Bobcats kept it going by intercepting a pitch from Tyson to Pippen that went the other way for six thanks to Wayne Stark.
Palo Verde answered with its only score of the night, a drive that started at the 50 and ended with a touchdown pass from Tyson to Gus Brungardt from 21 yards out.
Benson took over after that, going into the second quarter up 28-6 on account of an 11-yard touchdown run by Judd and a 7-yard touchdown pass from Judd to Stark.
Before the half, the Bobcats were able to put up three more touchdowns, with Judd throwing an 8-yard pass to Byron Judd, Rene Lorta scoring on an 8-yard scamper, and Judd finding Santo once more, set up by a Tyson fumble recovered by Cohen Barney.
“Some of us were down. Most of the seniors, ‘cause we’re losing at halftime, last game,” Pippen said. “No matter what, win or lose, it’s your last game. At that point, you might as well die on the field.”
Benson came out of halftime with the same ferocity as the first half, with Steven Deskins picking off Tyson on the first drive.
Palo Verde’s Devin Fraijo returned the favor, intercepting Barney, who replaced Judd for the rest of the game.
After stopping the Titans, Benson finished the next drive with Barney hitting Byron Judd on a 6-yard touchdown.
The Titans were able to get one more turnover thanks to a fumble recovery by Xzavier Little before time ran out.
Despite the loss, and missing the playoffs because of it,, head coach Jamal Chatman was still given an ice bath following the program’s best record in 16 years.
“Like I’ve been saying, we got young students that came out to be athletes … that turned into a team, and look what we’ve done,” Chatman said. “Now the next part is rebounding and coming back to do this again. I think we had 12 seniors and we had 22 players.”
“It was my last football game as a senior, so it kind of hit different, but I’m proud of our guys,” Pippen said. “My freshman year we didn’t even have a team, so even getting to this point, we came up short, but the point we even came up is good for us man.”
While Palo Verde’s season is over, Benson now has to look ahead to the playoffs.
“I just got done telling them, it’s back to 0-0 records. It’s anybody’s game,” Benson second-year head coach Chris Rasmussen said. “We’ve played a strong schedule. I think it’s going to help us in the playoffs, and we’re very excited to get rolling.”
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