Round 3 Game Review: Benton at Mt. Carmel

A massive crowd attended The Snake Pit on Saturday afternoon in Mt. Carmel, Illinois. The atmosphere in the pit was electric; fans surrounded the entire field on both sides of the end zone. They’re playing some Tom Petty; the stands are packed on both sides. Mount Carmel home side seating is epic with vertical seating straight up the hillside, fully packed and loud ready for a crisp 38° playoff game in November. <hr /> <h5>Benton vs. Mt. Carmel Game</h5> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Mt. Carmel won the toss elected to defer. </span> <span style="font-weight: 400;"> The game opened up in a defensive battle where both teams punted back and forth, then Benton mounted a drive late in the 1st quarter scoring on a 14 yard TD pass from [player_tooltip player_id= "65707" first= "Keegan" last= "Glover"] to 2023 WR Isaiah Ward with 2:48 left in the 1st the score, 7-0. Benton scored on end with their fans, and the pop they had was something else when they scored.  </span> <h5><span style="font-weight: 400;">End of 1st 7-0 Benton</span></h5> <span style="font-weight: 400;">[player_tooltip player_id="132936" first="Blayne" last="Sisson"] tosses a half back screen pass to [player_tooltip player_id="65852" first="Zeke" last="Hadra"] for 9 yard touchdown with 9:19 left in the second making the score, 7-6 Benton </span> After a solid defensive stop from the Golden Aces mounted an impressive drive top off with a   <span style="font-weight: 400;">[player_tooltip player_id= "132936" first= "Blayne" last= "Sisson"]  8yd TD run with 3:05 left in the 2nd making the score 14-7. </span> The Rangers put their 2-minute offense to work, moving down the field quickly and efficiently. [player_tooltip player_id= "65707" first= "Keegan" last= "Glover"] makes an exceptional pass to the corner pie line to Reid Bamgarte, who makes a toe-tapping catch for a 14 yard TD pass with 48 seconds on the half, making the score 14-14. The first half of this game was a dog fight, and nothing was given up lightly; every yard was hard-earned, and these student-athletes were giving it their all. <h5><span style="font-weight: 400;">Tied at Half 14-14</span></h5> The Golden Aces opened up the half with the ball. Blayne Sission put together a long drive that ended on Benton’s 29 yd line with a missed 4th down conversion with 7:38 left in the 3rd. The Rangers didn’t get anything started on the ensuing drive. <span style="font-weight: 400;">With 6:30 left in the 3rd, [player_tooltip player_id="132936" first="Blayne" last="Sisson"] scores on a QB sneak for the TD making the score 20-14 Mt. Carmel. </span> Defense leads the way for the remainder of the quarter with no more scores. <h5><span style="font-weight: 400;"> 20-14 Golden Aces End of 3rd </span></h5> With 6:00 left in the 4th, [player_tooltip player_id= "65707" first= "Keegan" last= "Glover"] and the Rangers mounted a long drive to the five yd line where Mt. Carmel was fortunate to get a couple of simple mistake penalties, and critical dropped pass in the endzone that backed them up and forced a field goal attempt that went wide right. The Golden Aces took advantage of the momentum swing, mounting a 74-yard drive leading to a <span style="font-weight: 400;">[player_tooltip player_id= "132936" first= "Blayne" last= "Sisson"] 11 yd TD run with 3:00 to go making the score 28-14.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">2022 DL Eli Swanson made big plays on the defensive line through the game and finished it with safety to seal to end any hopes of a comeback officially. </span> <h5>Final Mt. Carmel 30 Benton 14</h5> 2022 WR [player_tooltip player_id="155248" first="Zach" last="Allen"] Mt.Carmel i s a talented player that made his presence known throughout the game making big plays to keep drives alive. 2022 OL/DL Luke Laws was all as expected and more with his drive blocking and rentless rush when on defense. <hr /> The score does tell the story of this game. It was a brawl from start to finish without any let up on either side. The closing of the Benton Ranger season and Mt. Carmel Golden Aces move on to the final four teams in the 3A IHSA playoffs to face #1 seed Tolono (Unity) 12-0. &nbsp;