Demarcus Bennett led the John Essex Hornets to their 34-14 victory over Marengo High School with two rushing touchdowns for 65 and 62-yards, and racked up 168-yards for the night.

“I think we improved a lot this week and I give my hats off to the team for their performance,” John Essex Head Coach Jerome Antone said.

On the defensive end of the ball, Cedrick Cooks aided the team’s victory with 13 solos, five assists and two interceptions.

Coach Dredrick Bell for Marengo High said he felt his team did a lot better this week.

“We beat ourselves up with some penalties and we gave up a long run,” he said. “But, we are going to go in, look at the film, do some drills and clean up our mistakes.”

He said he was overall pleased with the effort and plans to work with the team to continue to improve going into next week.

Next week, John Essex travels to St. Luke’s in Mobile.

Marengo High plays Fruitdale at home.