Coming off a major injury and dealing with the wear and tear of a high school football season, it would be reasonable to expect Benji Rodriguez to be slowing as the season progresses.
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Coming off a major injury and dealing with the wear and tear of a high school football season, it would be reasonable to expect Benji Rodriguez to be slowing as the season progresses.
That just isn’t the case, though.
In Wright City’s 48-18 win over visiting Van-Far last Friday, the senior rushed the ball 13 times for 213 yards and four scores. The effort comes two weeks after he missed a game with an injury and one week after he rushed for 120 yards and a score in a win over South Shelby. That adds to 333 yards and five scores over two weeks.
“Physically, right now I'm probably around 70 percent,” Rodriguez said. “Every week brings a new ache or pain that I'll have to carry on through, and then a new one comes while I'm still trying to fix the old ones.
“Even on the weekends, when you would think I would be resting, I'm working full days, so I really haven't had an actual day of rest in forever,” he continued. “The funny thing about my knees is that my bad one is good and my good one is bad. The leg where I tore my ACL, MCL, and damaged the meniscus is feeling great and has relatively few aches; meanwhile, my supposed ‘good’ knee and leg in general have all sorts of different problems.”
Wright City Coach John Klekamp said Rodriguez’s results are unsurprising, but, as the senior said, the road back to optimal condition to meet expectations at his level has been complicated.
“It is amazing to see what he has been able to accomplish,” Klekamp said. “Managing Benji's workload and recovery time has been tricky, as Benji is an athlete who wants to compete at a high level in everything he does.”
What made the effort against Van-Far even more noteworthy is that Rodriguez did what he did one night after tallying five goals during the Wright City soccer team’s Senior Night win on Thursday.
“We are super proud of him, his commitment to both programs and all of his hard work,” Klekamp said. “He is a special athlete and playmaker in every role he plays on a Friday night.”
After Rodriguez, the passing game also paid dividends for Wright City (3-4).
Junior quarterback Kayden McCurdy completed 15 passes for 164 yards and two scores.
Fellow junior Kaveon Schulte had 76 receiving yards and a score while senior TJ Hamel added 47 yards and a score.
“Offensive balance has been the goal the entire season and can be tricky at times when all of our skill guys want the opportunities to make plays,” Klekamp said. “This week, we ran the ball 27 times and threw 31 times; being able to be successful in both the run and the pass game makes it much more difficult for our opponents.”
On defense, junior Zamarion Rawlison (12 tackles) and Rodriguez (11 tackles) led the way for the Wildcats. Of Rawlison’s tackles, seven were for loss as Wright City recorded 20 TFLs in the win.
The team also recorded three sacks and three interceptions.
“Our defense continues to be the most consistent part of our game,” Klekamp said. “We have players that make it extremely tough for the opponent's offense to find consistent success. Jayden (Hanke) and Zamarion continue to lead our defense with a combined 19 tackles for loss and each with an Interception over the past two weeks.”
The team looks to continue its strong play as it carries a three-game win streak into a 7 p.m. game at Montgomery County on Friday.
“Winning three in a row has been nice, as we started the season with some tough match-ups and, like so many teams, working through new players in new positions and throwing in a few key injuries, and got off to a slow start,” Klekamp said. “Our team was getting used to a new head coach and losing the 14 seniors that we did last year; (we have) continued to work through these major transitions this season to this point. Since Week 3, we feel like we've gotten better each week. We will keep working hard at practice and improving each week.”
That improvement will be tested against a talented Wildcats squad, Klekamp said.
“MOCO is a good team with several good athletes and has been on a successful run over the past two years,” Klekamp said. “They run a multiple-scheme offense that mixes heavy run, wildcat and spread formations. They have been successful running the ball and throwing it when needed. Their defense has been solid and attacks downhill quickly from the 2nd and 3rd levels. We will need to be ready to execute on both sides of the football and be on our game in the special teams battle.”
With two weeks left in the regular season, Wright City sits fourth in the seven-team Class 3 District 4 standings with 30.12 points. If the standings held, Wright City would host Fulton in the first round of districts.
