COTTLEVILLE – Fort Zumwalt South senior Chase Bensing seemingly had exhausted every type of catch imaginable, from diving snags to sideline toe-taps to leaping grabs in the end zone.
But with rival Francis Howell Central driving for the winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter Friday, Bensing unveiled a new method of making a catch.
“It kind of got stuck between my legs,” Bensing said.
Bensing wedged the game-clinching interception between his knees, completing a spectacular performance that included 11 receptions for 144 yards and three touchdowns as Fort Zumwalt South defeated Francis Howell Central 31-28 Friday at Don Muench Stadium.
Howell Central (2-1) erased a 10-point deficit by finding its offensive rhythm in the second half, with several big gains coming when senior quarterback Tristan Graham found senior Connor Sheehan on quick slant patterns.
Trailing by three in the waning minutes of the game, Graham again sought out the quick-hitter to Sheehan.
And Bensing was lurking.
“(Sheehan) had been killing us with that slant route across the middle, and I was watching for it,” Bensing said of his game-clinching interception. “I had it, then it got caught between my legs, but I kept it off the ground and it worked out great.”
The juggling interception was about the only pass that did not stick firmly in Bensing’s hands, as he and senior quarterback Carter Cox displayed uncanny, nonverbal communication throughout the game.
On the seventh play from scrimmage, Cox looked for a quick pass to Bensing, but he was covered. Cox escaped the pocket, rolled to his left, and Bensing instinctively took off towards the end zone, outleaping a defender for an improvised 23-yard touchdown to open the scoring.
“We’ve been playing together for a long time, and we’ve gained that chemistry where I can roll out and he can just feel it,” said Cox, who is also a fireballing, southpaw baseball pitcher verbally committed to Northern Illinois.
Graham and Sheehan displayed their own quarterback-to-wide receiver synergy for Howell Central, connecting six times for 100 yards, including an eight-yard slant route that tied the score at 7 apiece.
But like a Mercedes, Bensing showed off his quality, reliability and superior performance.
Lining up in the slot, he faked a hitch route and then darted for the end zone. Cox lofted a left-handed rainbow over two trailing Spartans’ defenders that Bensing snagged for a 21-yard touchdown to put Fort Zumwalt South back on top.
“We had been running that hitch route a lot, and we knew that corner(back) was going to come flying up,” Bensing said. “The line held up great and (Cox) threw a great ball.”
A perfectly-executed screen pass from Graham to senior running back Collin Parsons covered 45 yards and knotted the score at 14, before Bensing struck again just before halftime.
This time, he exited his hitch route with a curly-q, spin-o-rama and took off for the front pylon, but two Howell Central defenders stayed right next to him.
Cox threw it his direction anyway, and Bensing caught it over both defenders with his toes landing inches inbounds to give the Bulldogs a 21-14 lead with 25 seconds remaining in a half that still had plenty of fireworks to come.
Zumwalt South (2-1), which began the game with an unsuccessful onside kick, rolled the dice again. This time, senior Jacob Bedore pounced on the short squib from kicker Jackson Tankersley and the Bulldogs had successfully stolen a possession.
Four plays later, Tankersley blasted a career-long, 47-yard field goal at the buzzer to send the Bulldogs into halftime with a 24-14 lead and a flood of momentum.
“I’m proud of that kick,” Tankersley said. “I knew I had the foot. I’ve kicked it farther in practice, but that’s without pressure. I’m pretty impressed with myself.”
The impressive kick gave the Bulldogs a double-digit halftime cushion, but the third quarter belonged to Francis Howell Central.
An interception by junior Andrew Martin was converted into a 40-yard touchdown run by sophomore Ashton Payton to narrow the deficit. Then, after a Zumwalt South punt pinned the Spartans inside their own five-yard line, Howell Central embarked on what felt like the game-deciding drive.
Graham connected with Sheehan over the middle for gains of 19 and 27 yards, and Parsons escaped into the secondary for a run of 25 yards. Parsons completed the 8-play, 97-yard drive with a three-yard plunge to put Howell Central in front for the first time, 28-24 after three quarters.
“They were really pushing down on us. We just had to stay composed,” Bensing said.
That composure was tested during a game in which the teams combined for 33 penalties for 315 yards. With slightly less frequency than officials were pulling out flags, Zumwalt South was pulling off trickery.
On a third-and-13 early in the fourth quarter, Cox handed the ball to sophomore Cooper Owens, who ran to his right, stopped, and threw the ball back to Cox for a 15-yard gain.
Cox then resumed his normal quarterback duties, finding Bensing for 12 yards and senior Cooper Walters for 10 before bursting through the line on a three-yard quarterback keeper to cap a 10-play, 60-yard drive that put the Bulldogs ahead, 31-28.
“I kept preaching, ‘We’ve just got to want it more,’” Cox said of the go-ahead drive. “I’m really proud of my team.”
The Zumwalt South defense still had to stop a Howell Central offense that had scored touchdowns on its previous two possessions, including one that spanned 97 yards.
First, it was Tankersley who snuffed out a fourth-and-3 quarterback bootleg and stopped Graham short of the first down.
“You can tell when the quarterback turns his back like that, that a rollout is coming,” Tankersley said. “I thought he got away for a second, but I just got him by the shoulder.”
And it was Bensing, who had placed the Bulldogs atop his shoulders throughout the game, who used his knees to squeeze the final chance of victory from Howell Central.
“We had a lot of injuries and a rough start to the year, so for us to come out here and win, I think it can really change the trajectory of our season,” Bensing said.