High school football: Bennett’s big night Spells defeat for top-ranked McKeesport
Montour’s Brandon Bennett did it all against McKeesport in a 28-17 win Friday night, getting the best of Georgia commit Kemon Spell and the No. 1-ranked Tigers in an early-season showdown at Thomas J. Birko Memorial Stadium.
Bennett tallied 76 rushing yards on 11 carries for two touchdowns, went 5 for 7 for 57 yards through the air and picked off three passes from his safety position.
The win was the second in two starts for Montour while McKeesport – ranked No. 1 among all Class 4A teams by Triblive -- dropped to 1-1.
Bennett made a statement early as the Spartans went right down the field on the game’s first drive, which ended with Bennett running a keeper over the middle from 8 yards out for the score. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound junior carried multiple McKeesport defenders with him and the Spartans offensive line helped push him into the end zone.
“Coming out here, we know we had to punch them in mouth,” Bennett said. “Every team we play every single week, no matter who they got, how many stars they have, where they’re committed to, that doesn’t bother us.
“We come out here, we play ball hard, and I work hard. I don't let one man bring me down. It has to take a whole team.”
The score was set up by Bennett’s 28-yard pass to Archie Collins on third down to get Montour into the Tigers red zone.
Collins tallied 101 yards rushing on 17 carries, including a 56-yard touchdown that put the Spartans up 14-10. Amari Wright added 22 rushing yards.
After Spell and McKeesport were heavily hyped up, the Montour line was ready to make a push up front as the underdogs.
“It starts in the weight room since December,” Bennett said. “The line has been working hard all year. We're tired of being disrespected. We're tired of disappointing our community. This is the year we make the long run.”
After being penalized 15 times for 147 yards in its opener against Moon Area, Montour came in with a plan while McKeesport racked up numerous pre-snap penalties and turned the ball over five times. The game-changing turnover came on a Zander Stern 29-yard scoop-and-score that put the Spartans up for good, 21-17, early in the second half. Dalton Young picked off a pass on McKeesport’s final drive with Montour leading 28-17.
Montour’s game plan was simple but hard to execute.
“We had to stop Spell,” Spartans coach Lou Cerro said of McKeesport’s talented running back. “We couldn’t in the first half but we did in the second half. That’s why we won the game.”
After Bennett’s early touchdown, Spell evened the score quickly when he took a 69-yard screen pass from Jordan Stuvaints to the house to tie it at 7-7.
McKeesport tallied a field goal on its next drive following a Bennett interception to make it 10-7 with just under a minute to play in the first quarter.
The Tigers began to drive again, but this time, Bennett snagged an interception in the end zone on a pass intended for Spell.
Collins capitalized as he put the Spartans up 14-10 on a 56-yard touchdown run with 8 minutes, 32 seconds left in the second quarter.
Spell, yet again, scored on the first play of McKeesport’s ensuing drive on a 70-yard touchdown run to go up 17-14, and that remained the score at halftime.
Spell finished with 195 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown for 264 total yards, including the receiving touchdown.
But when it counted, Montour shut down McKeesport in the second half.
“He’s a great running back,” Bennett said of Spell. “Of course, he's going to get his. But at the end of the day, our coach came in, and he fired us up, and he got us right. We came out here, wrapped him up, and held him to zero points in the second half.”
Stern earned the Spartans a 21-17 lead after a failed pitch play that resulted in his scoop-and-score less than two minutes into the second half.
After forcing another punt, Bennett scrambled, breaking four tackles for a 21-yard gain to the Tiger 8.
On fourth-and-1 at the 3-yard line, Bennett jumped over a pack of Tigers and spun into the end zone for the score to take a 28-17 lead with 4:07 remaining in the third quarter.
McKeesport’s Javien Robinson, a South Carolina commit then hauled in a pass for 49-yards after catching it at his own 40 and advancing to the Spartan 33 after a missed tackle.
But Dom Baron landed a massive hit on Spell behind the line on the next play.
Bennett then picked off his second pass of the game and ran it to the McKeesport 41.
Later in the half, despite multiple first downs from Spell, the Tigers chose not to hand the ball off to one of the top running backs in the nation, instead taking a deep shot that Bennett picked off for his third interception of the game.
Montour’s line was what made a difference, shutting down splash plays and getting a push up front offensively to get scores when the Spartans needed to.
“We needed them in the second half,” Cerro said. “They really got a good push. They protect when they have to, and it all worked out for us.”
Bennett was happy to see a packed house.
“Our community’s always with us no matter what,” Bennett said. “No matter who we play, our community’s with us, the fans come out, they support and we love them.”
Cerro wants to keep the momentum.
“It’s a good win for the program but what matters is what you do next week,” he said. “I have to make sure we keep on rolling next week.”
Photos by Antonio Rossetti
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