Sports
Football: Benicia Routs Armijo 47-7
Panthers' quarterback McNeece leads first half offensive stampede against Indians.
Benicia 47, Armijo 7
The Star: Benicia's Andrew McNeece threw for 124 yards and three touchdowns, all in the first half.
The Turning Point: Benicia's Deon Beck intercepted Armijo's Brian Wilson on the first play of the second quarter and ran it to the house, essentially putting the game away with three quarters left to play.
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The Quote: "We executed really well and got down the field, and moved the ball well. They worked all week in practice and put it to them," Holden said.
What's next? The Panthers will host Wood Friday at 7:30 p.m.
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Bottom Line: Benicia looks to use its first three-game winning streak since 2006 to cool down a red-hot Wood team.
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When a coach can rely on a player to fix his mistakes, they don't have to worry about them.
Consider this the case with Benicia High quarterback Andrew McNeece and his head coach Craig Holden.
McNeece threw a season-high three touchdowns and led the Panthers to a dominant 47-7 defeat of Armijo.
"He had a bounce back game," Holden said. "It was time for him to bounce back a little bit."
McNeece seemed to have fixed the mistakes that caused him to throw two interceptions last week.
"He worked hard in practice this week and focused," he said. "I don't worry about McNeece because he's smarter than I am. If I don't really have to worry about him, he's going to execute and work as hard as he can."
McNeece first two passes were incomplete, but he completed 11 of his next 13 attempts. He capped Benicia's first drive of the game, a nine-play, 72-yard drive with a four-yard pass to Andrew Myers for a 6-0 lead.
Jabriane Ross then fumbled the ensuing kickoff and the Panthers took over at the Armijo 32-yard line. McNeece drove them into the end zone four plays later, tossing a pass to Matt Crisostomo to push it to a 13-0 advantage.
McNeece then pushed the game further out of reach. On fourth-and-eleven from the Indians' 44-yard line, he launched a 31-yard bomb down the right sideline to Crisostomo to put Benicia inside the red zone. Ryan Wheat capped the drive with a seven-yard touchdown run.
Then the Panthers cemented their status as the true predator on the field.
Deon Beck intercepted Brian Wilson's first pass of the second quarter and returned it 33 yards to slowly push the game out of reach. McNeece's third touchdown pass of the first half, a 12-yard strike to Peter Reyes, made it 34-0 halfway through the second quarter.
Holden said the blowout victory is just another win.
"I look at each as an individual game," he said. "Whether we're on the road or we're at home, we got to win the games that are on our schedule."
Asked if the victory was a statement, Holden said no.
"I just want to win a game. I'm just looking to win each game each week and prepare our team to be prepared every week for championship football."
Austin Carr led the team with 183 total yards, the biggest chunk coming on an 85-yard kick return touchdown in the fourth quarter for Benicia's final score. He added 54 yards on the ground and caught three passes for 44 yards.
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Benicia 47, Armijo 7
Benicia 20 14 6 7 — 47
Armijo 0 0 0 7 — 7
Scoring summary
6:59, 1st: B — Myers 9 pass from McNeece (kick failed)
4:57, 1st: B — Crisostomo 4 pass from McNeece (Reyes kick)
0:08, 1st: B — Wheat 5 run (Reyes kick)
11:40, 2nd: B — Beck 33 Interception return (Reyes kick)
5:28, 2nd: B — Reyes 12 pass from McNeece (Reyes kick)
5:53, 3rd: B — Beck 14 run (kick failed)
6:47, 4th: A — Ross 31 run (Calderon kick)
6:28, 4th: B — Carr 85 kickoff return (Reyes kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing (car-yards): BEN — Carr 8-54, Salas 4-27, Wheat 3-20, Beck 2-19, Needles 1-3, McNeece 1-8, Knuffke 3-19, Munakash 1-0, Thorton 2-10, Reyes 1-(-2). ARM —Ross 16-131, Gumataotao 4-11, Garrido 1(-1), Wilson 5-(-19), Dees 1-0.
Passing (comp-att-yards-ints): BEN — McNeece 11-16-124-0. ARM — Wilson 9-23-53-2.
Receiving (rec-yards): BEN — Carr 3-44, Myers 1-9, Crisostomo 2-35, Wheat 2-24, Reyes 1-12. ARM —Ross 6-36, Gumataotao 3-17.
Team offense (rush-pass-total)
Benicia — 158-124-282
Armijo — 122-53-175
Fumbles/lost: BEN — 0/0; ARM — 1/1.
Records: Benicia 3-0, Armijo 0-3
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