There is no secret that the rivalry between Benjamin and Jayton is real.
It was Jayton eliminating Benjamin from the playoffs three years ago, and Benjamin eliminating Jayton last year en route to their second state championship.
It was the Jaybirds who beat the Mustangs in the basketball state championship game last March.
The players know each other, the coaches know each other, and both teams seem to instinctively know that there will be no championship without getting through their rival down the road. This game had to happen. And this time it was the Jayton Jaybirds who came out victorious, doubling up the Mustangs with an early 4th-quarter mercy rule victory, 100-50.
The Mustangs took the opening kickoff and the early lead with a long 4th down pass into the end zone to go up 6-0.
The Jaybirds answered two plays later when Sean Stanaland (6/7–144–3TD) hit Dayton Bleiker up the seam for a score.
The game had a backand- forth feel during the early goings with Jayton taking 64-44 lead into the locker room at the half. But it was the magic in the locker room that made the second half completely different.
Head coach Josh Stanaland noted, “You know, my brother, the other Coach Stanaland (John) made some defensive adjustments at halftime and it made us better. We started bringing Ayden Salazar up the middle a little bit and he’s a force when he does that.”
The change made all the difference, as the Jaybirds held the Mustangs to 6 second-half points. Also impressive on the night were Jayton’s other two defensive linemen, Colt Gentry and Griff Reel.
“Those two guys, obviously you’ve got 6’-2” and 6’-5” back there and the way they can affect the ballgame…they’re a problem. If there’s two better spread rushers in the state, I’d like to see them,” noted Stanaland.
The pressure of the Jayton defensive line was too much for the Mustangs to handle, and the Benjamin offense was contained.
On the flip side, no one could contain Jayton’s Bode Ham. Throughout the season, while facing less challenging opponents, Ham’s workload had been kept rather small; a couple carries a game, maybe a pass or two, but it was obvious the goal was to keep him fresh until the Jaybirds reached a game like this.
Thursday night Ham was set loose to the tune of 13 carries for 260 yards and 9 TD’s. Benjamin had no answer and the game ended early as Jayton outscored their rival 36-6 in the second half. Ham’s head coach had nothing but praise for his speedster, who incidentally also led the team with 20 tackles.
“We like Bode Ham,” said Stanaland. “I’m not ashamed to say that he’s the best back we’ve ever had. The stuff that he does is special. I don’t think I could touch him in a phone booth, much less out here somewhere. He’s a special kid; hard worker and he played a great game tonight.”
Having passed the Benjamin test, Jayton is now one win away from a trip to Jerry-World and the state championship game. The final hurdle is a team Jayton is all too familiar with, the Klondike Cougars.
Stanaland noted, “It’s hard to beat somebody twice, especially somebody good. We’ll definitely have our hands full, but we’re excited for the challenge. It’s nice that we are familiar with those kids, this is the 4th time we’ve played them in 3 years and they’re playing good football…they’re the next thing in the way of where we want to be, so we’re ready to take that test.”
Jayton (4-0 against Klondike the last 3 years) defeated Klondike 50-0 during week two of the season as Klondike had a remarkably slow start, beginning the season 0-4. However, the Cougars got healthy and went on to finish their regular season 6-4 and have soared in the playoffs with victories over Southland 72-0, Sands 68-20, Motley County 46-16, and the most recent, an upset of #2 ranked Follett 56-6 last Thursday night.
