FOOTBALL: Mistakes finally cost Panthers a victory
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Benton Rangers forced five turnovers to key a 14-12, drama-filled win over the Pinckneyville Panthers Friday night at Tabor Field. The win keeps the Rangers perfect on the season at 3-0, dashing Pinckneyville's hope for a 3-0 start, dropping them to 2-1.
"They old saying is that you can learn a lot from a loss, but we will learn a lot from this win, too," Benton coach Jeremy Clodfelder said. "We didn't play our best football, but we found a way to beat a pretty good football team tonight."
It was a defensive play that got the Rangers rolling in the first half. After both teams came up empty on their first two possessions, Landon LaBuwi stepped in front of a Panthers receiver, intercepted Bryant Shute's pass and streaked 76 yards down the north sideline for a score with 1:34 left in the first period. Colby Allen's conversion run was good and Benton led 8-0.
LaBuwi came up big again when he scooped up a fumble after Colt Dugger put a big hit on Panthers running back Cole Kellerman to shake the ball loose.
The Rangers converted that turnover into their second score of the night, Allen scoring on an 18-yard run with 7:32 left in the half for a 14-0 Rangers lead.
Allen's run came on the heels of a 16 yard pass from Tyler Leffler to Cody Smith, putting the ball at the PV-18.
With the Panthers sitting at the B-6 after a 33 yard run by C. Kellerman, Benton's defense rose to the occasion again.
On the next play, Dylan Sheeks recovered a fumble to thwart the drive.
A quick 3-and-out, though, gave Pinckneyville a chance to get on the board before halftime and it did after a couple of crazy plays.
Taking over on its own 43 yard line, Pinckneyville picked up a first down when Shute was forced out of the pocket and threw a wild pass to Ky Hamilton for a 16 yard gain. A tipped pass ended up in the hands of C. Kellerman two plays later and the big fullback rambled 32 yards to the B-2, where Shute carried the ball in from with 6 ticks left in the half, cutting the Benton lead to 14-6 at intermission.
Pinckneyville drew closer as the second half began.
Daulton Hubler picked off a pass on the second play of the third quarter and, two plays later, Shute scored from a yard out to pull the Panthers within 14-12 with 10:49 left in the third quarter.
But Benton's defense would allow nothing more.
Pinckneyville had a golden opportunity to score on its next possession, but Eric Price intercepted a Shute pass in the end zone to kill the drive.
"That was a good play by Price on a key play," Clodfelder said. "We made plays when we had to."
Benton looked like it might be getting its passing game on track when Leffler hit Jake Harris for gains of 5 and 20 yards on its next drive, but had to punt.
Shane Bettenhausen and Cole Forby stopped Pinckneyville for no gain on consecutive plays to turn the ball over to Benton on downs and the Rangers were driving for what would have been a back-breaking score late in the fourth quarter. Allen chewed up the yardage and the Panthers were called for pass interference on a fourth down play to keep the drive alive. Another fourth down play was just short, though, Smith gaining 15 yards to the PV-6 on a 4th and 16 play.
The play gave the ball back to Pinckneyville with 2:08 left at its own 6 yard line.
A personal foul penalty on Benton moved the chains and a 13 yard pass to Marian Brammeier gave the Panthers another first down. But, on Shute's next pass, Forby got Benton's third interception and the Rangers ran out the clock for the win.
"He plays hard," Clodfelder said of Forby. "That was a nice pick to seal the deal there late."
The Rangers picked up 215 yards rushing and 81 yards passing in the game to finish with just under 300 yards of offense.
Allen again led the running attack with 116 yards on a whopping 26 carries, Leffler had 73 yards on 16 totes.
For the Panthers, C. Kellerman led the way with 74 yards on 12 carries. The Panthers totaled 166 yards in the game rushing the football, with Hubler (4-31), Shute (12-29), J.D. Connor (5-12) and Justin Hale (4-20) pitching in.
Shute was 6-for-14 passing for 112 yards, but was picked off three times. C. Kellerman (2-34), Hale (1-2), Hamilton (1-16), Brammeier (1-13) and Austin Pyatt (1-47) all caught passes for PCHS.
The Panthers (2-1) wrap up a three-game road trip at Carterville (1-2) in week four.
-Doug Daniels of the Du Quoin Evening Call also contributed to this story.