MANSFIELD — His nickname is Toledo, but after last week’s record-setting performance Brian Benson may be a candidate for a new moniker.
How about the Mansfield Missile? Or the Tyger Torpedo?
The Richland Source Athlete of the Week, Benson smashed Mansfield Senior’s single-game rushing record in a 62-41 win at Clear Fork. The 5-foot-8, 169-pound sophomore rushed for 329 yards and five touchdowns on 22 carries, topping Dante Davis’ 2005 mark of 285 yards in a Week 9 win at Wooster.
So what’s with that nickname?
“I’m from Toledo,” Benson said. “I moved down here a few years ago and (last year’s) seniors gave me the nickname and it stuck.”
Not much stuck to Benson during the second half Friday at the Colt Corral. He pin-balled through Clear Fork’s defense, rushing for 278 yards on 11 carries with touchdown runs of 51, 80, 77 and 15 yards.
“If it wasn’t for the offensive line, I wouldn’t have gone anywhere,” Benson said. “They are my family.”
During one jaw-dropping five-and-a-half minute stretch bridging the third and fourth quarters, Benson carried the ball four times for 213 yards and three TDs.
“He can run,” Clear Fork coach Dave Carroll said of Benson. “He hit those holes fast and he was gone. He broke a bunch of tackles.”
The speedy Benson was thrust into the spotlight when starter Tyquan Vickers suffered an ankle injury midway through the first quarter.
“Tyquan went down with a high ankle sprain and we turned to a sophomore,” Senior High coach Chioke Bradley said. “He was ready last year when he was a freshman. He got his opportunity and we always talk about when the phone rings, you’ve got to answer it. He answered it tonight.”
Benson played sparingly on Senior High’s Ohio Cardinal Conference championship team last fall, rushing for 68 yards and a touchdown on nine carries in mop-up duty. He had run for 56 yards and a TD through the first two weeks behind Vickers, a junior who emerged last fall with 1,560 yards and 14 touchdowns as the Tygers reached the second round of the Division II playoffs.
It was last year’s wildly talented senior class that took Benson under its wing.
“They took me in and showed me the ropes,” Vickers said. “Last year’s senior wanted it so bad. I saw the passion they had and I want the same thing for this team.
“I was just grateful to get in at all last year.”
As valuable as he is offensively Friday, Benson is every bit as important to the Tygers’ inexperienced defense. The undersized linebacker came into the Ohio Cardinal Conference opener tied for the team lead with 24 tackles. He had several tackles for loss Friday.
“He’s an iron man for us,” Bradley said. “He flipped over on defense and made a ton of plays. He had a bunch of tackles to go with all those yards and touchdowns offensively.”
Benson is also a regular on Senior High’s special teams units. He rarely came off the field Friday.
“I get tired sometimes, but I just want it so bad,” Benson said. “The guys last year used to say, ‘You’ve got to want it more than you want to breathe.’ I just tell myself to keep going because, in the end, it’s going to pay off.”
It paid off Friday for the Tygers.
