By Jerry Del Priore
After admitting that he didn’t play his best in the last two games, sophomore running back Alex Benjamin was determined to do something about it.
The hulking sophomore did just that, as he went out and bulldozed his way to 144 yards and three touchdowns on 11 carries, propelling August Martin to a 44-6 PSAL Cup Conference win over host George Washington (0-6) Saturday afternoon in Manhattan.
“Well, I learned from mistakes from the last two games,” Benjamin told BrooklynSportsWorld.com. “And I went by that, and I kept going and kept going and I didn’t stop. I didn’t give it my all (last week). Some plays I took off, but now I’m giving it my all, and it’s turning out great for me.”
Benjamin scored the first two touchdowns of the game and Judeley Francois returned a punt for a score to give the Falcons a 22-0 lead midway through the second quarter.
The Trojans got on the scoreboard, however, with a long TD pass to cut the deficit to 22-6 late in the second quarter.
But August Martin scored again as junior quarterback Tyler Parham completed a nine-yard touchdown pass to sophomore receiver Isaiah Allen, who caught five passes for 135 yards, to give the team a 28-6 advantage with seconds left in the first half.
Freshman Kaymari Smith punched it in for a touchdown and Parham completed a two-point running play that swelled the lead to 36-6 early in the third period.
Benjamin capped his spectacular day with a 46-yard rushing score, stiff-arming a George Washinton defender for 15 yards before hitting the end zone for the TD.
With the victory, the Flacons improve to 4-2 this season — one more victory than they had all of last year. But head coach Kyle Allen knows that each contest is important and his squad needs to keep winning in order to stay in the playoff hunt.
“Well, we’re pretty much in the situation where every game is a must-win because even though we have a winning record, we’re rated low,” Allen explained. “So, our power points (73) aren’t as heavily weighted as some of the other teams. So, we’re in a must-win situation because of the two games that we dropped.”
While the competition wasn’t as tough as August Martin has faced this year, Allen said it required that kind of dominate showing to remind it how good they are, and can be, going forward.
“Although the level of competition wasn’t as high, we needed that type of performance from our kids to remember who we are and what we can do,” he said. “So hopefully, next week it carries over.”
Junior Michael Fredrick led the Flacon defense with five tackles, one for a loss, and sack, while Allen had an interception.
August Martin travels to Beach Channel Saturday for a noon affair.
NY NJ Sports World/Brooklyn Sports World 