Louisiana: Benton High School 2015 Football Season Preview

Written by Charlie Beuttel
Twitter: @charlie_cds3

Head Coach: Reynolds Moore
Mascot: Tigers
District: 1-4A
2014: 10-3
Location: Benton, Louisiana

Overview
The Tigers had a very impressive season in 2014 advancing all the way to the state quarterfinals before suffering a heartbreaking 55-7 loss to Warren Easton. Confidence in a great season is once again running high around this team going into the 2015 season.

Benton lost some key defensive leaders from last season including their defensive MVP Gage Carroway but there is plenty of talent including defensive back Xavier Washington remaining on this team to make another long run in the playoffs.

A couple key games for Tigers are a home game against North DeSoto on Oct. 2 and and another home game against Minden six days later.

Offense
Benton scored an average of 17.5 points a game last year. The leader of the offense will be sophomore quarterback Garrett Hable. Hable took over the leadership role midway through the season last year as a freshman.

In an interview with The Shreveport Times, Coach Moore talked about his young quarterback stating, “Garrett has a lot of natural ability and you can never question his mental ability. We’ll put a little more on his shoulders this year. He’ll get the option to check off a few plays, change the direction of the call. I’ve never given a quarterback that right, so that says a lot about his development.”

Hable performed well during 7-on-7 games and has gained 15 to 20 pounds in the weight room during the summer.

The offensive line is led by senior Drew Brantley (5’11”, 250). Two offensive weapons for the Tigers includes receivers junior John Westmoreland (6’3”, 205) and sophomore Clayton Festavan (6’1”, 170).

Defense
The Tigers only gave up on average 16 points a game a season ago. Benton relied really heavily on their lockdown defense a year ago and will do the same in the 2015 season. The defensive leader is defensive back Xavier Washington. The senior playmaker was selected second-team All-Parish and second-team All-District in his junior season.

Seniors Taylor Rivet and Dalton Rangel will be the leaders of the linebackers. Sophomore Jordan Myles will also spend at linebacker. Senior defensive tackle Chauncey Taylor (5’11”, 270) will be the leader of the defensive line.

With these defensive stars leading the way, Benton should put on another defensive show in 2015.

Schedule
9/4 Green Oaks
9/11 at Natchitoches Central
9/18 Southwood
9/25 at Huntington
10/2 North DeSoto
10/8 Minden
10/15 at Fair Park
10/23 Woodlawn
10/30 Northwood
11/6 at Bossier

Photo credit: bossierpresstribune.com; Garrett Hable