Just some input on the Benjamin game from someone who has never seen them play live and just happened to be traveling to within 1.5 hours of Hamlin tonight so I went to go see what the fuss is all about. First things first, and this is taking nothing away from Newcastle, but they were never in any way a threat to win that game IMO. 2) The refs were the absolute worst that I have seen in a very very long time. If half of the holding calls had been called on Benjamin’s rush it would have been over at half! It was BLATANTLY obvious and never called. There were a couple of overly late hit calls that were missed, one the flag was waved off on and from my point of view it was what used to be called spearing and happened to Rigdon after he was on the ground with a direct shot in his back. Flag waved off. There were, what I would label unsportsmanlike conduct calls on BOTH teams that happen directly in clear view of a ref that was repeatedly allowed. It was a terrible job by the Zebra crew no if ands or buts about it! 3) I think Rigdon may actually be “better than advertised” bc Newcastle definitely had plans to put hits on him on both sides of the ball, he very obviously has a huge target on his back and yet still seems like he can “turn it on” and be 1-2 levels above every other kid on the field at any time he wants! The kid is an awesome ball player! 4) Newcastle definitely wasn’t intimidated in any way, you could tell from the start of the game that “inside” that team they felt they could beat Benjamin. 5) The younger Hayes kid gets a lot of the attention behind Rigdon but IMO Tallon is the “glue”. That kid is the one who’s hold off the rush while Rigdon “dances” around looking for someone down field and he is relentless with his blocking. He’s that guy that just seems to do all the “dirty” work (on both sides of the ball) and does it extremely well play after play. To label him with the “modern terminology” in todays game.. he’s a dawg! 6) Out of the Top 12 ranked teams (Overall/Uber), after tonight, the only teams I haven’t seen play live this year are Miami, Abbott and Whiteface. I say that to say that Benjamin, IMO, is top 2 at least. I know that may seem crazy after the final score tonight but I feel like the final score made that game seem WAY closer than it was. You put “average” refs in place of the crew that was there and it would have been a drastically different final, probably ended early to mid 3Q. Take all that however you want, but that’s my take on the game tonight, along with some opinions on Benjamin “stars”from an outsider perspective.