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SPORTS

Lexington defeats Mansfield Senior, nabs share of OCC title

Connor Casey
Reporter

MANSFIELD - The Mansfield Senior Tygers (5-4, 3-2 Ohio Capital Conference) opened their Senior Night contest against Lexington on Friday night with a 79-yard touchdown off a jet sweep from Brian Benson.

With nearly 4,400 career rushing yards and every school rushing record to his name, it was no surprise to the fans at Arlin Field that he'd have another breakaway performance.

And while this could send an opposing team into panic mode, the Minutemen didn't blink. Lex responded less than a minute later with a 70-yard touchdown off a bubble screen pass from Logan Pfizenmayer to Cade Stover. It was just the first of 28 unanswered points that gave Lex a 28-6 lead early in the second quarter and a 42-20 win.

"I'd say we're a veteran team and everyone is just really mature and we calmed down," Lexington running back Hunter Biddle said. "Brian (Benson) is an amazing athlete. He's going to make plays and obviously he made plays all night. We knew we just had to settle down and do our jobs."

Benson finished with another 119 yards (198 total) and a second trip to the end zone in the final minute of the third quarter.

"A kid like Brian Benson is going to get his plays," Lexington coach Taylor Gerhardt said after the win. "I was certainly hoping it wasn't going to be on the first doggone play from scrimmage, but he did. We did not execute. However, our kids are mature enough to settle down. They did and they ended up doing a tremendous job."

The Tygers were unable to get back on the board until late in the second quarter, when Sid Caudill threw over the middle to Christian Haney for a 25-yard touchdown pass to cut Lex's lead to two scores. But it'd be the closest the Tygers would come throughout the remainder of the night. Lex scored once in the third off a 61-yard touchdown pass from Pfizenmayer to Biddle and again in the fourth off a five-yard run from Pfizenmayer.

The Lexington senior QB finished throwing 5 for 8 for 167 yards and two touchdowns, while Caudill struggled going 10 for 26 for 96 yards and a TD. Biddle led the MInutemen on the ground with 70 rushing yard on 16 carries.

The win earned the Minutemen a guaranteed share of the OCC Championship, their first since 2008. Lex (7-2, 5-0 OCC) can become outright champions if it beats Ashland (6-3, 4-1 OCC) on the road next week.

"It's everything to us," Gerhardt said. "Our goal was to win the OCC and play in Week 11, and that hasn't changed since last November. We've been single-minded, I've pushed these kids unbelievably and they've answered every time."

"We came out with a goal that we set out in the beginning of the year and we achieved it tonight," Biddle said. "Now next week we've got to go out, prepare again and do it again."

ccasey@gannett.com

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Twitter: @ConnorCasey_MNJ