Greg Benson’s three touchdown passes propel the Crusaders past the Trojans 38-14.
The Crusaders’ (5-3, overall, 4-2 Sunset League) home win keeps the team among the top four teams in the league. The Trojans (3-5, 2-4) now have just one game remaining at home against Sierra Vista (6-2, 4-2) on Friday at 7 p.m. and play for pride. The other top three teams in the Sunset League are Sierra Vista, Spring Valley (5-3, 4-2) and Cheyenne (4-4, 4-2).
Three of the five Crusaders’ touchdowns were through the air. Faith Lutheran Quarterback Greg Benson threw for 235 yards and the team rushed for 182 yards.
The Trojans rushed for 105-yards rushing and threw for 91 yards. The Trojans scored early in the second quarter on a 53-yard pass from TJ Milk to Case Murphy. This would be their only score in the half and at halftime the score was 21-6.
Pahrump would score one more time late in the fourth quarter with five minutes left in the game. TJ milk threw a 12-yard pass to Deon Estes who took it in for the touchdown. The two point conversion made the score 38-14.
The stats tell the story. The Trojans had 196-yards total offense to the Crusaders’ 417 total yards. Trojans Coach Joe Clayton said his offense could not make things happen.
“They just kept coming, and again our offense the last three weeks has struggled, our defense has stayed on the field too long,” he said.
The Crusaders seemed to pass at will and Clayton’s defense had a hard time stopping them.
“Let’s not give up the big play — that’s what I told the Trojans,” he said. “We don’t play good here. We don’t play well against Faith Lutheran. It’s always a challenge coming here, and I knew it, it was the big play. We gave up a couple big plays tonight at the end of the first half. We gave up a couple touchdowns, and from there, we saw the spirit leave a little bit.”
The team was up for the game. At the half, the Trojans were not out of the game, but couldn’t adjust.
“We didn’t compete in the second half,” Clayton said. “We do really well against the running teams, Cheyenne, Spring Valley, but the passing teams we struggle with. But it’s just mainly the adversity—we just didn’t handle it well, we didn’t step up.”