Tigers are back!

BUFFALO — They’re back! After losing in the sectional semifinals a year ago, Bennett High is returning to the New York State football semifinals for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

Senior Jimmy Valentine rushed for 144 yards and three touchdowns as Bennett, playing on its home field at All-High Stadium, knocked off Penfield in the Class AA regionals, 26-14. The Tigers, now 10-1, will face Christian Brothers Academy of Syracuse next in the state semifinals at Cicero-North Cicero.

Steve McDuffie’s Bennett squad will be looking for its third trip to the state championship game in the last five years, in quest of the title it captured at the Dome in Syracuse three years ago.

Bennett showed it could score with a long drive and a lightning strike on its way to a 12-7 halftime lead. On the game’s opening possession, the Tigers marched 64 yards on 11 plays to a touchdown, running on every play.

Valentine carried six times on the drive, starting it with a 12-yard run and finishing it standing up on a 2-yard TD. Bennett had three straight 10-plus rushes to start the drive — by Valentine, Dontre Hampton and Acari Brown.

Penfield answered with a go-ahead score late in the opening quarter, as quarterback Dominic Giunta faked a handoff and found tight end Boyle for a 5-yard touchdown. Riley Johnson booted the point-after to make it 7-6, Patriots.

Bennett quarterback Carl Barnes threw an interception on a deep throw early in the second. But coach Steve McDuffie has great faith in his senior. He allowed him to throw from his own end zone for 8 yards on first down. Then Barnes dumped a pass into the left flat with a blitzer in his face. Hampton shook off a tackle and raced 87 yards down the sideline for a TD and the 12-7 edge.

Penfield threatened late in the half, getting a first down on Giunta’s run on fourth down and moving to the Bennett 18. After a dropped pass in the end zone, Johnson missed left on a 30-yard field goal try just before half.

The Tigers went ahead 20-7 after a Jack Eskridge interception in the third quarter. Eskridge, who scored four TDs in the Section VI final, grabbed a couple of 15-yard passes from quarterback Carl Barnes, and Valentine capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run.

Penfield, which began the season 1-4 and had to come from behind in the Section V title game, wouldn’t quit. After recovering a Hampton fumble, the Patriots scored on a 1-yard TD run by Giunta with 3:09 left in the fourth, cutting the deficit to 20-14.

But the Tigers ended the way they began, running it down the opposition’s throat. It was all Valentine on the clinching drive, as he broke off four successive big runs — for 29, 12, 28 and finally a 20-yarder for the TD. That’s 89 rushing yards on four plays, an exclamation point for the home fans.

Gallery by Emily Croisdale/WNYAthletics