Richland dominates in first half to earn shutout over Fort Worth Paschal

Richland amassed nearly 500 yards of total offense Thursday night, led by quarterback Cole Benson’s three scores through the air, and a run game that totaled over 200 yards, en-route to a 53-0 victory over Fort Worth Paschal in a non-district game at Clark Stadium.

The Royals (2-0) got on the board first on the games’ second play as Benson found CJ Nelson with a 67-yard strike for the 7-0 lead after the first quarter of play.

Early in the second, the lead increased to 20-0 as it was Benson to Nelson once more, this time with a 22-yard pass and catch, and following a forced punt, running back EJ Gipson-Smith rushed one in from a yard out.

Shortly before intermission, Benson had his third passing TD of the night as he found 3-star prospect CJ Baskerville from 12 yards out. Backup quarterback Jake Kennedy connected with Jay Rhinehart on a 15-yard TD to give Richland the 34-0 lead at the break.

Running backs Dominique Johnson and Marcos-Pina Jackson added rushing scores in the second half from 34 yards and one yard, respectively.

The Royals out-gained the Panthers 487-12 in total yardage. They picked up 25 first downs to Paschal’s four. Benson was 11 of 15 for 183 yards passing and Gipson-Smith had a team-high 62 yards rushing. Nelson had 89 yards receiving.

Paschal (0-2) was led by Tommy Bell and Austin Cunningham’s combined four catches, and Conner Culp’s 33-yards passing.

The game featured Richland head coach Ged Kates and his youngest brother, Paschal offensive coordinator Will Kates. The two coached together at FW Arlington Heights for two years. Ged has spent much of the past decade at Richland while Will is in his first year at Paschal after spending the past eight seasons at La Grange with the third Kates, Matt.

This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 11:07 PM.