Sacramento defense provides plenty of reasons to make the Dragons a playoff pick
We already knew the Sacramento Charter High School offense could score in bunches.
Saturday’s 41-19 win over Golden Valley in the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs provided a reminder: The defense is also really good and the Dragons will be a factor in the Division III playoffs.
Sacramento had three interceptions in the first half as Damarion Taylor, Terance Williams Jr. and Keimari Benjamin all stole the ball from the Cougars.
Benjamin’s might have been the most impressive. Not only did the linebacker weave 40 yards through traffic for a touchdown, he caught the ball while wearing a pink cast on his left arm. The cast protects his wrist, which he broke Oct. 7 against El Camino. The cast will still be around next week when the sixth-seeded Dragons travel to third-seeded Manteca for a quarterfinal.
Williams just laughed when it was suggested that Benjamin’s interception might have been the best play of the game.
“He will catch anything,” Williams said. “If he has maybe a broken arm or a broken leg, no problem.”
The Dragons defense doesn’t require Benjamin to perform any heroics, though. The Dragons have 16 interceptions from eight different players in going 9-2 this season. And the defensive line helps with that effort. In the first half against Golden Valley, Sacramento’s Zuri Franklin pressured the quarterback and forced an errant throw. Williams was right there to pick it off, naturally.
“We just focus on switching and making our calls. And just reading the quarterback, watching where he’s going,” Benjamin said.
“It’s all about communication and assignments,” Williams said. “If you do your assignment, you might get the pick like I did.”
Sacramento coach Justin Reber lights up when he talks about Benjamin. The linebacker is 6-foot-2, 250 pounds and leads the Dragons in tackles for loss with 16. He has three sacks. It doesn’t hurt that he can also pick off a pass and take it in for a touchdown.
“You can run him with any running back that we line up against,” Reber said. “He doesn’t miss practice. He works hard in the weight room. He studies film. He’s one of those guys, a class of 23 guy that should be on everyone’s radar. Come spring, he will be. He’s one of our best players on defense.”
Of course, the Sacramento offense did plenty of its own work Saturday. The Dragons showed both quick-strike capability and an aptitude for grinding forward against the Cougars. Golden Valley went up 7-0 in the first 1:30 of the game, with three passes covering 71 yards. Quarterback Eleazar Garza threw a nine-yard strike to Jahkylle Smith to finish the scoring drive.
That was Golden Valley’s last lead of the game.
Sacramento started to take control late in the first quarter with a grinding 18-play, 76-yard drive featuring 13 runs by sophomore Lamar Radcliffe, who went 1 yard on the last play for a touchdown. Benjamin’s interception return made it 14-7. After a Golden Valley three-and-out, Sacramento quarterback Naaman Branyan hit Devin Stephens on a 73-yard bomb for a 21-7 lead. Damarian Taylor picked off the next Golden Valley throw. In the span of less than five minutes, the Dragons went from trailing to in the driver’s seat. Branyan threw for 187 yards and two touchdowns while also running for a score to lead the effort.
Fittingly, Reber turned to Williams to close out the game. The senior primarily plays defensive back. But after Radcliffe carried the ball 27 times for 121 yards, it was somebody else’s turn.
“We needed to spice it up a little bit in our running game,” Reber said, “and Terance we knew was motivated and inspired. It’s his senior year and you know, we thought we would get a little bit more out of Terance because it’s playoffs and he’s a senior and he wants to finish strong.”
Williams ran for 95 yards on Sacramento’s final two drives to help the Dragons ice it.
“I believe in my team and in the linemen,” Williams said. “If they make blocks and open up a hole, you know they can count on me to get somewhere. They protect my life ... I could have been killed out there.”
Getting pancaked is something that used to happen regularly for Sacramento. The Dragons won just two games in Williams’ sophomore season, 2019. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit and blew up the 2020 season. A senior on a young team, Williams is one of the guys who went through the bad times to make it to the section quarterfinals.
“We have gotten this far and it’s a gift,” he said.