High school football: Blake Benko perfect in Cloverleaf win over Field

WESTFIELD TWP. — This is fact, not hyperbole: Blake Benko played a perfect game Friday. The Cloverleaf quarterback compiled the highest NFL passer rating possible, 158.3, as the Colts steamrolled shorthanded Field 48-0 in Metro Athletic Conference action. Playing only in the first half — Cloverleaf (2-2, 1-1) led the Falcons (0-4, 0-1) 41-0 at intermission — the 6-foot-1, 190-pound senior completed 8-of-8 passes for 178 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. "I felt really good tonight," said Benko, who tied the school record for TD passes in a game shared by Travis Hissom (2016 vs. Norton) and Garrison Flora (2012 vs. Revere). "Going through warmups, the team was looking good. I've got to give all the credit to my offensive line. The blocking was tremendous tonight." Brandon Ridenour, Luke Yuravak, Kevin Bittaker, Tommy Price and Will Rogalski, along with tight ends Lakota Hagenbaugh and Timmy Shores, certainly did their job up front, but Benko never came close to missing a throw. The right-hander had three touchdowns with 5:59 to play in the first quarter and four with 5:16 to play in the first half, at which time Cloverleaf led 34-0 and Benko was 7-for-7 for 162 yards. Coming into Friday, he had 257 yards passing and one TD on the season. "He's amazing," said junior wide receiver Will Jerome, who caught 31- and 41-yard scores. "He's the best quarterback I've ever had. I love playing with him." Benko and his teammates had so much fun against the Falcons that some Cloverleaf players were good-naturedly saying, "Drew who?" in reference to Medina quarterback, Penn State commit and Mr. Football candidate Drew Allar, who owns Medina County records for passing yards and passing TDs. Benko made no such proclamation. "I was surprised how open some of our guys were," he said. "But we work on getting open every week in practice. It's starting to show up on Friday night, and that's good for us." The Colts took the opening kickoff and marched 58 yards in eight plays, with Benko going 4-for-4 and capping the drive by hitting Philip Hamilton (2 rushes, 28 yards; 3 catches, 47 yards) on a 5-yard slant. Hamilton then recovered a perfectly executed pooch kick by Dylan Bresnahan to give Cloverleaf possession at the Field 36. Two plays and 47 seconds later, Benko hit a wide-open Cade Cass (5 rushes, 5 yards, TD; 2 catches, 45 yards, TD) down the middle for a 35-yard score to put Cloverleaf up 14-0 with 7:53 left in the opening quarter. The Falcons, who had 19 players in quarantine, went three-and-out on their first series and followed with a 6-yard punt, giving the Colts possession at the Field 31. On the first play, Benko hit a wide-open Jerome down the left sideline for a 31-yard TD. Still not done, the Colts forced another three-and-out and went up 27-0 with 1:29 to play in the opening period on a 23-yard jet sweep by Connor Hitchcock. "Everyone blocked amazing," said Hitchcock, who had two rushes for 40 yards while also excelling on defense. "(Running back) Emilio (Rivera) sealed the edge and I had a straight line to the end zone. All I had to do was beat the safety. After that, I could have walked in." Benko's fourth TD pass, a 41-yarder to Jerome, made it 34-0 and an 8-yard Cass run pushed the lead to 41-0 with 1:07 left in the first half. "Coach (Justin Vorhies) told me to run a post and expect the ball," Jerome said. "Benko threw it and I knew I was going to catch it, but I thought I'd get tackled. He didn't wrap up, so I spun and kept running." At halftime, the Colts had run 26 plays for 290 yards. Field had 24 plays for 16 yards. The Falcons had just 28 players in uniform, but had the services of their top three skill players in quarterback Braxton Baumberger (5-for-7, 20 yards; 11 rushes, minus-13 yards), freshman running back Drexal McAmis (12 carries, 27 yards) and receiver Sam Dopkosky (4 catches, 11 yards). Cloverleaf shut down everything behind outstanding play from guys like Hitchcock, Bittaker, Cass, James Nespeca, Caleb Goode and Sean Barker, who had a fumble recovery for the only takeaway of the game. "We wanted to crash on their jet and sit on their wide receivers," Hitchcock said. "We had a great game plan going in and we executed it." The only points of the second half, which was played with a running clock, came when backup quarterback Oakley Kemp used his speed to go 56 yards untouched. "After two losses, it feels really nice," Hitchcock said. "We wanted to show our true potential. We're not out of (the MAC race) yet." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on Twitter. Cloverleaf 48, Field 0 FIELD 0 0 0 0 — 0 CLOVERLEAF 27 14 7 0 — 48 First C — Philip Hamilton 5 pass from Blake Benko (Dylan Bresnahan kick), 8:40. C — Cade Cass 35 pass from Benko (Bresnahan kick), 7:53. C — Will Jerome 31 pass from Benko (kick failed), 5:59. C — Connor Hitchcock 23 run (Bresnahan kick), 1:29. Second C — Jerome 41 pass from Benko (Bresnahan kick), 5:16. C — Cass 8 run (Bresnahan kick), 1:07. Third C — Oakley Kemp 56 run (Bresnahan kick), 4:50.