Grayson Rigdon, Benjamin football too much for Jayton in six-man region final

HERMLEIGH — There was no stopping the Benjamin offense Friday night. Grayson Rigdon wouldn't allow it.

The Mustangs scored on every possession to top Jayton 85-40 in the Region II-1A Division II final at Spieker Stadium. Rigdon, six-man football's most celebrated player, accounted for eight of the 11 touchdowns for the reigning state champions, who advance to face Klondike in the state semifinals.

Rigdon's final score and subsequent conversion run ended the game via the mercy rule with 2 minutes, 7 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Highlights

Benjamin scored on its first offensive play, with Rigdon hitting Westin Weatherford for a long pass. It was a preview of things to come.

The spread back Rigdon was hard to wrangle, at times abandoning the run to make a pass. Twice in the second half the improvisation resulted in TDs.

With their offense rolling, the Mustangs needed only a few stops to reach the 45-point margin. In addition to a fumble recovery, Benjamin's defense stuffed Jayton at the 2-yard line to set up the game-ending drive.

Friday's stars

Rigdon led the team with 262 rushing yards and five TDs and threw for 221 and three scores. Keegan Hayes was a more than serviceable complement, netting 127 rushing yards and 121 receiving with four TDs.

Bode Ham did his best to keep Jayton within striking distance. The spread back ran for 251 yards and all six of the Jaybirds' TDs.

Notes and quotes

Benjamin coach Nathan Hayes: "I didn't know we could win the ball game coming in, to be honest. By (one) point would have been very happy for us. We got up, we got rolling, and our kids just executed. They played great team work tonight."

Hayes on Rigdon's run-pass decision-making "I think Grayson just sees the field so good right now. When you see it the way he does, the game slows down. And he can make that stop, run and then pick his head up and make that throw when people are coming up to stop the run."

Jayton coach Josh Stanaland: "I don't know what we could've done different (defensively). There were times where I thought we defended stuff perfectly, and (Rigdon) is just on a little bit of another level. He would pop out, he would find a receiver or squirt out of there. … He's different."

Stanaland: "We didn't perform to our standard tonight. If we don't do that, you're not gonna beat the No. 1 team in the state. Still proud of our kids. Great year."

Hayes: "I can't say enough about our defense. There were some big stops in there, got a turnover early in the game. We didn't know if we could stop them all week. Now, Coach (Jamie) Rigdon probably thought we could've and probably right we did, but it was a stressful week at Benjamin, Texas."

REGION II-1A DIVISION II FINAL

Benjamin 85, Jayton 40

Benjamin 24 30 31 x — 85

Jayton 14 12 14 x — 40

SCORING SUMMARY

First quarter

JAY — Bode Ham 46 run (run failed), 8:47

BEN — Westin Weatherford 50 pass from Grayson Rigdon (Matteo Schwettling kick), 8:37

BEN — Keegan Hayes 55 run (Schwettling kick), 7:02

BEN — Hayes 42 run (Schwettling kick), 3:56

JAY — Ham 1 run (Justin Collins kick), 1:47

Second quarter

BEN — Hayes 1 run (kick failed), 9:56

JAY — Ham 40 run (kick failed), 9:48

BEN — Rigdon 9 run (Schwettling kick), 7:42

JAY — Ham 7 run (kick failed), 6:24

BEN — Rigdon 16 run (Schwettling kick), 3:37

BEN — Rigdon 11 run (Schwettling kick), 0:06

Third quarter

BEN — Hayes 46 pass from Rigdon (Schwettling kick), 9:35

JAY — Ham 1 run (Collins kick), 8:32

BEN — Rigdon 17 run (Schwettling kick), 5:52

JAY — Ham 45 run (kick failed), 5:37

BEN — Weatherford 60 pass from Rigdon (Schwettling kick), 5:24

BEN — Rigdon 8 run (Rigdon run), 2:07

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs: (B) 21; (J) 11

Rushes-Yards: (B) 27-389; (J) 34-381

Passing: (B) 221; (J) 30

Comp-Att-Int: (B) 10-11-0; (J) 6-7-0

Punts: (B) 0; (J) 0

Fumbles-Lost: (B) 0-0; (J) 1-1

Penalties-Yards: (B) 4-30; (J) 6-43

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Benjamin, Grayson Rigdon 20-262, Keegan Hayes 7-127. Jayton, Bode Ham 19-251, Ayden Salazar 14-120, Sean Stanaland 1-10.

PASSING: Benjamin, Rigdon 10-11-0—221. Jayton, Stanaland 2-5-0—27, Ham 1-2-0—3.

RECEIVING: Benjamin, Hayes 6-111, Weston Weatherford 2-110, Hudson Cates 1-5, Elijah Trevino 1-(-5). Jayton, Ham 1-18, Justin Collins 1-9, Salazar 1-3.

RECORDS: Benjamin 13-0; Jayton 12-1.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas six-man football: Grayson Rigdon, Benjamin beat Jayton in region final