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Prep Football: Harrisburg has way with Rangers

Harrisburg rushed for over 300 yards and shut down Benton in a 42-7 win over the Rangers Friday night.

The Bulldogs kept Benton quarterback Hamilton Page in check by limiting the Rangers to just 168 yards of offense in front of the Homecoming crowd.

"You hate to play poorly in front of a big Homecoming crowd, said Harrisburg coach Al Way. "Our kids had a great week of practice. The kids were really focused. We played tremendous defense. The coverage was great in the secondary. We had a great pass rush. The offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage."

Harrisburg fullback Jordan Bartok rushed for 114 yards and two scores.

Teammate Axavier Doss ran for two scores, and senior Matt Upchurch added another rushing touchdown.

Quarterback Isaiah Saulsberry threw for 86 yards as he completed five passes, including a 16-yard score to Jordan Gould.

"Isaiah keeps getting a little bit better every week, and we become a little more two dimensional and a little bit tougher to defend," said Way.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 15-0 lead after the first quarter and had extended their lead to 23-0 midway through the second quarter before the Rangers picked up their initial first down of the night.

Page rushed for 73 yards, and his 15-yard scamper in the game's final minutes accounted for the only Benton score.

Harrisburg forced six Benton punts and also picked off a Page pass attempt.

Playing the second half in a cold and steady rain, HHS was still able to move the football on the ground by averaging 6.7 yards per carry.

Benton had won three out of four heading into Friday evening.

The Rangers (3-3, 1-2) play at Massac County in Week 7.

Harrisburg (3-3, 2-1) travels to Murphysboro before closing the season with home dates against Herrin and Carbondale. The Bulldogs need to win at least two of their final three contests to become playoff eligible.

Benton 0 0 0 7 - 7

Harrisburg 15 15 6 6 - 42

HBG: Bartok 1 run (Drone kick), 1st 7:58

HBG: Doss 9 run (Gould run), 1st 0:33

HBG: Upchurch 18 run (Bartok run), 2nd 6:47

HBG: Saulsberry 16 pass to Gould (Drone kick), 2nd 0:28

HBG: Bartok 1 run (run failed), 3rd 0:25

HBG: Doss 6 run (run failed), 4th 8:54

BEN: Page 15 run (Davis kick), 4th 1:22

BEN HBG

First downs: 9 21

Total yards: 168 401

Rushes-yards: 30-115 47-315

Passing yards: 53 86

Comp-att-int: 7-17-1 5-9-0

Penalties (yards) 3-8 3-40

Fumbles(lost): 2-0 4-1

Rushing: BEN: Page 15-73, Pankey 5-18, Davis 1-0, Dunn 4-5, Key 5-19. HBG: Saulsberry 3-18, Upchurch 11-62, Smith 5-62, Doss 6-42, Ragsdale 4-17, Bartok 18-114.

Passing: BEN: Page 7-17-1 53. HBG: Saulsberry 5-9-0 33.

Receiving: BEN: Thomas 1-12, Davis 3-14, Pankey 2-11, Craig 1-16. HBG: Gould 2-50, Doss 1-8, Smith 1-6, Jackson 1-18.