DEWITT — Central DeWitt handled the distractions of homecoming week — and its opponent, Benton Community — easily on Friday night.

The Sabers (2-2, 2-0 Class 3A, District 6) led 35-0 after 15 minutes of play and went on to win 49-14.

“I was very pleased right from the first kickoff with the way our kids came out and executed in all phases,” Central DeWitt coach Mike Miller said. “I thought our defense did a nice job of creating turnovers and getting scores there. Offensively, I thought we did a lot of good things. We put in some new things and had some different looks.”

Benton (0-4, 0-2) couldn’t stop the Sabers’ powerful running attack. Central DeWitt racked up 409 yards on 45 carries, with 10 different Sabers carrying the ball.

“It’s one of those things that we’ve preached since Day 1,” Miller said. “We believe that to be successful we need to be able to establish the run. Certainly, (Friday) we were able to do that early. I think that contributed a lot to our success the rest of the game.”

Central DeWitt got on the board less than five minutes into the game when Jake Feldpausch scored from 4 yards out to cap a seven-play, 81-yard drive. After forcing Benton to punt, the Sabers marched down the field again covering 60 yards in six plays. Central DeWitt quarterback Mitch Green ran it in from 36 yards to finish that drive.

The Sabers needed only one play to score each of the next two times they had the ball. Chris Keitel — who rushed for a game-high 121 yards, all in the first quarter — scored from 48 yards out. That was followed by Mitch Kirby taking an end around 32 yards down the right sideline and scoring.

“We feel like we’ve got a lot of good athletes,” Miller said. “The dilemma for us is, ‘How do we get them the ball?’ We try to find ways to put our good athletes in position to be successful. When those guys got opportunities, they certainly took advantage of it.”

Kirby liked the feel of scoring and 50 seconds later found the end zone again. This time after intercepting a pass from Benton quarterback Noah Fisher and returning it 24 yards.

Central DeWitt intercepted three passes and recovered a Benton fumble.

“Our defensive mentality has changed since the first two weeks,” Miller said. “We’ve come out more focused. We’re trying to get guys to the ball. We want to be a swarming defense. We felt those first two weeks, we weren’t guys aligned the way we needed to and after first contact opponents were getting 3 or 4 more yards. We’re trying to shore up those things. I think we’ve done it and done a pretty good job at it. It’s encouraging as a coach to see that improvement week to week.”

Benton gained 145 yards against the Saber defense.

Central DeWitt brought in a lot of second- and third-team players after Kirby’s interception return gave the Sabers a 35-0 lead early in the second quarter.

“It’s our philosophy that (our first-team) guys are able to go out and execute the way they did in the first quarter, quarter and a half, due to the way they prepared throughout the course of the week,” Miller said. “Those guys do a lot of things behind the scenes that allow our first team to go out and execute Friday nights. To get an opportunity like we had to showcase their talents and abilities is extra special. They’ve earned it. They do a good job of coming into practice and working hard to prepare our team.”

Feldpausch scored in the third quarter to put the Sabers ahead 42-0. But Benton returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown to get on the board. The Bobcats then took advantage of a Central DeWitt turnover and scored on a 12-yard drive.

James Grell scored the Sabers’ final touchdown from 13 yards out with 6:36 to start the running clock again.

As the game was winding down, the Central DeWitt student section entertained the crowd and players on the sidelines by singing songs by Journey and Enrique Inglesias.



CENTRAL DEWITT 49,

BENTON COMMUNITY 14

Benton    0    0    14    0    —    14

Central DeWitt    21    14    7    7    —    49

First quarter

CD — Jake Feldpausch 4 run (Patrick Haller kick), 7:34

CD — Mitch Green 36 run (Haller kick), 4:21

CD — Chris Keitel 48 run (Haller kick), 0:03

Second quarter

CD — Mitch Kirby 32 run (Haller kick), 9:51

CD — Kirby 24 interception return (Haller kick), 9:01

Third quarter

CD — Feldpausch 3 run (John Stammeyer kick), 7:46

B — Owen Hopkins 90 kickoff return (Keaton Betterton kick), 7:38

B — Ben Twedt 1 run (Betterton kick), 2:40

Fourth quarter

CD — James Grell 13 run (Stammeyer kick), 6:36

Individual statistics

Rushing — Benton (32-90), Ben Twedt 18-63, Jake Petersen 10-23, Noah Fisher 5-4; Central DeWitt (45-409), Chris Keitel 5-121, James Grell 6-53, Austin Lechtenberg 6-52, Jesse Brackey 8-46, Mitch Kirby 2-28, Mitch Green 3-38, Hunter Wagener 3-15, Greyson Doolittle 1-3, Martin Green 1-minus-1.

Passing — Benton (4-16-3, 45 yards); Fisher 4-15-3, 45 yards. Central DeWitt (2-4-0, 24 yards); Mi. Green 2-3-0, 24 yards; Brackey 0-1-0, 0 yards.

Receiving — Benton, Cameron Touro 1-22, TJ Morris 1-12, Owen Hopkins 2-11; Central DeWitt, Kirby 1-14, Keitel 1-10.