Benjamin, led by Grayson Rigdon, was looking to win their second-straight 1A Division 2 State Championship. For Ridgon, it would be his third, as he won the 2021 state title with Strawn. Rigdon won the MVP that year with Strawn, and won the MVP again last year with Benjamin.
The game started out with both offenses on fire. Oglesby took the early 6-0 lead on a 48-yard TD run by Kyler Fossett. Fossett looked unstoppable on the opening drive. On Benjamin’s first drive, they put the ball in Ridgon’s hands, and he drove the Mustangs down the field and scored on a TD run. Benjamin took an 8-6 lead.
The offensive continued. Just over a minute later, Foessett scored again for Oglesby to give the Tigers a 14-8 lead. Then, Rigdon responded, with several big runs, eventually scoring on a TD run to give Benjamin a 16-14 lead.
Benjamin made the first defensive stop of the game, stopping Oglesby on downs. And, again, Ridgon drove the Mustangs down the field and scored on a TD run with 3:46 to go in the first quarter, giving Benjamin a 22-14 lead.
Oglesby fought back. Fossett scored his third rushing TD to bring the Tigers within 2, but the Tigers missed another 2-point kick, leaving them down 2, 20-22, with 2:13 to go in the first quarter.
Benjamin responded less than 30 seconds later on a Rigdon TD pass to Hayes. Oglesby blocked the 2-point kick, and the score was 28-20 going into the second quarter.
Second Quarter: Benjamin Pulls Away
To start the second quarter, Benjamin stopped Oglesby on downs again. However, Benjamin fumbled 2 plays later, and Oglesby capitalized with a 1-yard Johnny Gomez TD run to tie the game at 28 with 8:42 to go in the first half. From here, the game changed.
Benjamin quickly scored on their next drive on another Rigdon touchdown run. This touchdown was his 14th in Six-Man state title games, a new record. It also gave the Mustangs a 36-28 lead.
Oglesby looked like they were going to continue the back-and-forth scoring, as they drove down the field, but Rigdon made a leaping athletic interception in the endzone to give the ball back to Benjamin. A few plays later, Rigdon found the endzone again, giving Benjamin a 44-28 lead, and putting him over 200 yards rushing in the first half.
The Tigers responded by once again driving the ball down the field. However, just as they were running in for a touchdown, they fumbled; Benjamin recovered it and ran it back for a touchdown to take a commanding 52-28 lead with 47 seconds to go in the first half. On the kickoff, Oglesby fumbled the onside kick, and Benjamin recovered. On the very next play, Rigdon scored on a 36-yard touchdown run to put Benjamin up 60-28 with 36 seconds to go in the half.
With just 36 seconds in the half, Oglesby managed to drive the ball down the field, and they found the endzone on a Foessett touchdown run to cut the Benjamin lead to 60-32. With only 2 seconds to go in the half, Oglesby kicked off, and Benjamin was able to fair catch the kickoff and get 1 play with 0:02 on the clock. Benjamin threw a deep pass into great coverage, and Rigdon somehow came down with the catch, stayed on his feet, and ran it in for a touchdown. It was the 8th touchdown of the half for Rigdon.
Second Half – Mercy
Benjamin got the ball to start the second half. Rigdon threw a touchdown pass to Tallon Hayes, putting Benjamin up, 74-34, bringing the mercy rule into view. Benjamin looked to be about to drive down for a score on the next drive, but they fumbled the ball back to Benjamin with 8:20 to go in the third. Then, Rigdon threw his third touchdown of the game, bringing the score to 82-34, and ending the game via the mercy rule.
Final Score: Benhamin 82 . Oglesby 34
UIL named freshman Keegan Hayes as the Defensive MVP.
The Offensive MVP was junior Grayson Rigdon.
Our Texas HS Football MVP was Grayson Rigdon.
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