Ben’s Ford Eagles soar over Green Wave

Published 10:35 pm Friday, August 25, 2023

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BOGALUSA, La. — Ben’s Ford Christian School sophomore running back/cornerback Dashell Houston had a coming-out performance that the Eagles won’t forget for a long time. And that Wilkinson County Christian Academy would rather forget.

Houston had five touchdown runs of at least 20 yards. He also picked off WCCA junior quarterback Jacob Sessions twice, returning one of them 100 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter as Ben’s Ford defeated the Rams 62-20 last Friday night.

Brayden Ready had a 23-yard touchdown reception from Sessions with 4:51 left in the first quarter and Sessions ran in the two-point conversion to give WCCA an early 8-0 lead. Ben’s Ford took just over two minutes to tie the game at 8-8 on Houston’s 20-yard TD run and Ein Knight’s two-point conversion run.

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Then the Eagles took over the game in the second quarter. Knight had a three-yard touchdown run and ran in the ensuing two-point conversion to give them the lead for good at 16-8. Houston added a 72-yard scoring run and Patrick Easterling’s 2-point conversion run made it a 24-8 game.

WCCA tried to mount a comeback – or at least tried to slow down Ben’s Ford prolific offense – when Sessions connected with Easton Buteaux on a 12-yard TD pass with 1:08 to go until halftime to trail 24-14.

Sessions had a rough night throwing the ball, completing just nine of 21 passes for 98 yards with the two touchdowns and the two interceptions. 

However, the Eagles responded quickly as Knight scored on a three-yard run and Jace Bickham’s two-point conversion run gave them a 32-14 lead with 37 seconds to go until halftime.

Houston then scored on a 30-yard run that made it a 40-14 game with 6:31 to go in the third quarter. Gavin Davis scored for the Rams on a 45-yard run to make it a 40-20 game at the midway point in the third quarter.

Davis had two carries for 54 yards. He was also the leading receiver for WCCA with two catches for 37 yards and led the defense with eight tackles.

Then Houston took over as he had a 42-yard TD run and his long pick-six late in the third quarter and a 97-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.

Jared Lanehart had eight carries for 29 yards while Buteaux had three catches for 26 yards and Ready had one reception for 23 yards. Jack Orgeron had five tackles and Jonathon Meredith added four tackles.

WCCA (1-1) plays host to Tensas Academy in a non-district game on Friday, Sept. 1 with kickoff at 7 p.m.