Poised for Greatness: Ben Taylor Aims to Lead Airline to a Perfect 10-0 Season and Rewrite the Record Books
by: Mike Strom // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Airline quarterback Ben Taylor is yet to meet a forward pass he did not like.
Which should come as no surprise given the historic nature that Taylor’s prowess for throwing a football has produced.
Taylor currently ranks fourth among the career passing leaders in Louisiana schoolboy football history with a very realistic goal of moving up to No. 2 before undefeated Airline’s season ends.
Taylor has passed for 11,308 yards and 124 touchdowns in three-plus seasons as a starter, numbers that leave the Bossier native 393 yards shy of replacing Josh Booty of Evangel Christian in second place.
Airline QB Ben Taylor’s career passing numbers:
Year Com-Att-Int, Yards, Touchdowns (Comp.%)
2021 67-120-8, 730, 2 TDs (55.8%)
2022 222-372-10, 3,098, 37 TDs (59.7%)
2023 319-432-8, 4,189, 49 TDs (73.8%)
2024 247-333-3, 3,291, 36 TDs (74.2%)
Totals 855-1,257-29, 11,308, 124 TDs, (68.02%)
Booty finished his prep career more than three decades ago in 1993 with 11,700 yards and 126 touchdowns before being selected fifth overall as a high school shortstop in the 1994 Major League Baseball Draft and signing with the Florida Marlins. Booty later abandoned professional baseball to play quarterback for LSU and in the NFL.
It’s conceivable that Taylor could catch Booty this weekend when Airline (9-0 overall, 7-0 in District 1-5A) closes the regular season with a 7 p.m. Thursday pairing at Huntington (5-4 overall, 5-2 in 1-5A).
A Northwestern State commitment, Taylor is averaging 365.7 yards passing this season through nine games while having completed 247 of 333 attempts good for 3,291 yards, 36 touchdowns, and a completion percentage of 74.2 for the state’s No. 8 ranked team in Class 5A by both geauxpreps.com and the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.
Taylor has been intercepted only three times or basically once for every 111 attempts and would need to exceed his average passing yardage by 28 yards to move ahead of Booty into second place before the playoffs begin next week.
The two other quarterbacks ranked ahead of Taylor also hail from Evangel with Brock Berlin sitting in first place with 13,902 yards through 1999 and Phillip Deas holding third with 11,324 yards through 1996.
| Rank | Name | School | Final Year | Yards |
| 1 | Brock Berlin | Evangel | 1999 | 13,902 |
| 2 | Josh Booty | Evangel | 1993 | 11,700 |
| 3 | Phillip Deas | Evangel | 1996 | 11,324 |
| 4 | Ben Taylor | Airline | 2024 | 11,308 |
| 5 | Ju’Juan Johnson | Lafayette Christian | 2023 | 10,770 |
| 6 | Kennon Fontenot | Barbe | 2013 | 10,673 |
| 7 | Cade Hart | Calvary | 2019 | 10,646 |
| 8 | Regan Edwards | Glenbrook | 2013 | 10,136 |
| 9 | Keith Baker | Green Oak | 2020 | 9,883 |
| 10 | Caleb Holestin | St. Thomas More | 2019 | 9,519 |
“You look at that list (of career passing leaders) and he belongs,’’ Airline coach Justin Scogin said unequivocally. “All of those guys who have had a ton of success, they all have had a lot in common. They made deep playoff runs. They won a lot.
“You look at Brock Berlin. He’s going to end up with a lot more games than Ben had because (Evangel Christian) was playing 15 games a year. So a lot of the people above him at the end of the day will have played more games than Ben because we lost in the first round (of the playoffs) his sophomore year and then lost in the third round (quarterfinals) last year.
“Obviously, if we can take it all five rounds, it would definitely help his chances (of breaking the record). I think he’s going to end up doing all of this with less games played. I think he’s going to do it with kind of less of a margin for error.’’
An Airline victory against Huntington would send the Vikings to the Division I Non-Select playoffs as District 1-5A champions with a 10-0 record and likely earn the team a first-round bye. The Vikings currently are ranked No. 2 in the Division I Non-Select power ratings compiled by geauxpreps.com and the Louisiana High School Athletic Association. Earning a first-round bye would leave Taylor and Airline with only four potential games remaining.
Catching Berlin would appear to be virtually impossible. Airline would have to advance to the state finals and Taylor would have to average 518.8 yards passing in five games in order to reach No. 1.
One caveat that Taylor pointed out is that he already ranks as the state’s career passing leader for public schools, having surpassed the 10,673 yards compiled by Kennon Fontenot of Barbe through 2013.
“It’s definitely a great feeling to know that I’m up there all-time and I have broken that Louisiana public high school all-time passing record,’’ Taylor said. “That’s a great feeling, just to know that I’m up there with some really, really great quarterbacks.’’
Taylor moved ahead of both Fontenot and the fifth-place total of 10,770 belonging to Jujuan Johnson of Lafayette Christian through 2013 in last week’s 35-21 District 1-5A victory against Byrd. Taylor completed 32 of 38 passes for 272 yards and 2 touchdowns without being intercepted.
“Ben will go down as one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the state,’’ said Scogin, who is in his third season as Vikings head coach, all with Taylor as his starting QB. “That’s a cool accomplishment in high school. There’s not many kids that throw for 6,000 yards, much less 12,000.
“To be under a guy that played in the NFL (Josh Booty and Brock Berlin) and other guys that one of them (John David Booty, who ranks No. 16 with 8,474 yards through 2002) went to USC, just the company that he’s in is pretty impressive.’’
The numbers of consequence for Taylor, personally, revolve around the team’s 9-0 record more so than his individual passing numbers as he and the Vikings seek to complete an undefeated season by winning Airline’s first state championship in nearly six decades.
Airline’s last and only state title in football to date came in 1967 when the Vikings defeated Holy Cross of New Orleans, 20-6, for the Class 3A crown in what then was the state’s highest classification.
“It’s definitely something we’ve always talked about every single year since Coach Scogin has been here, just because it hasn’t been done in years,’’ Taylor said. “Just going undefeated, 10-0, and being out-right district champs. So if we get there, that’s a huge goal.
“Then it goes on to the playoffs, being able to have a bye week in the first round if we can go 10-0. Then having all home playoff games is definitely a huge advantage against opponents. That is like the main thing we talk about.
“Coach (Scogin) will always say the biggest game on the schedule is Friday, which is the next game that we play. So that’s how we see things. We don’t look down on any opponent. We just play it as it goes. This is the year for us to go 10-0 and hopefully go to state.’’
The Vikings advanced to the Division I Non-Select state quarterfinals last season as a No. 4 seed following a 9-1 regular season before falling to No. 21 Mandeville, 56-50, in a Shreveport shootout. The loss sent the Vikings home with a 10-2 record.
Combined with this season’s 9-0 start, Taylor now owns a 26-6 record as a three-year starter. At 26-6. His evolution as a quarterback has played a large role in the Vikings’ success.
“Over the years, Ben’s maturation process has been really impressive,’’ Scogin said. “He went from being kind of quiet to getting more into a leadership role. He wasn’t like the full-out leader last year. But now it’s his senior year and he’s the dude. He’s the guy. Everybody looks at him. Everybody looks to him when things are going bad. Everybody listens to him. So that’s been a pretty cool deal as well.’’
“I feel like one of the main attributes that every quarterback has to have, especially at the next level (in college), is being a leader,’’ Taylor said. “With age and throughout my high school career, I feel like I have developed as a leader a whole lot and that’s helped me a ton just being able to lead the rest of my teammates and knowing that other people look up to me.
“I think my biggest quarterback skill/attribute is just being a pocket passer and reading the whole field. Reading the field pre-snap and knowing where I’m going to throw the ball to. Having good receivers helps a whole lot, but being able to stand in that pocket with pressure coming at you and make some of these throws is a huge deal, and not a lot of quarterbacks can do that. So that is one of my main skills that I’ve developed a whole lot.’’
Scogin, Taylor’s coach, uses the modern terminology of “throwing off-platform’’ to describe that portion of Taylor’s skill set.
“Ben’s biggest attribute is his accuracy,’’ Scogin said. “He’s as accurate as anybody I’ve ever coached. He’s unbelievable when it comes to accuracy. He puts a lot of work into it. We throw (all of the passing routes) a lot. We throw the fade a lot. We practice all of that stuff a lot. But he is just extremely accurate with all of that.
“As far as his decision-making, it’s gotten better every year,’’ Scogin said. “He’s a really good decision-maker, but we keep it simple. We keep everything simple to where he can play fast and be very decisive at times. I think the decision-making has a lot to do with how well we coach him and how well we put him in situations to be successful.
“As far as arm strength goes, Ben is very above-average, arm-strength-wise. Fundamentally, he knows how to get the ball off. He can throw on the run. A lot of the stuff we need him to do is on the run. Off platform is now the popular phrase to use. But he does just about everything you need in a quarterback above average.
“But as far as accuracy goes, he’s elite. He’s well above-average in arm strength and decision-making and leadership and all of that.’’
Taylor’s junior season currently represents Airline’s gold standard for quarterbacks when the junior completed 319 of 432 passes good for 4,189 yards and 49 touchdowns (count ’em, 4,189 yards and 49 touchdowns) in 12 games while being intercepted just 8 times. Taylor completed 73.8 percent of his passes in earning District 1-5A Offensive Most Valuable Player honors and a second-team All-State selection by the Louisiana High School Football Coaches Association.
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound senior currently is on pace to equal or surpass those numbers if the Vikings can advance as far as the quarterfinals.
Averaging 56.4 points a game, the Vikings boast two of the state’s top receivers as well in junior Kenny Darby and Jarvis Davis Jr. Darby is the leading receiver in the state with 75 receptions good for 1,330 yards and 20 touchdowns while Davis, a returning All-State selection, has 76 catches good for 949 yards and 7 TDs.
Junior running back David “DJ’’ Allen leads all Airline rushers with 667 yards and 7 touchdowns on 82 carries good for an 8.1-yard average per carry. Senior back Derrian Milligan ranks second with 336 yards and 3 touchdowns via 41 carries good for 8.2 yards per attempt.
The Vikings return approximately 11 starters from last year’s state quarterfinalist with seven of those manning offensive positions in Airline’s Spread attack. Airline’s top defenders in a multiple package based around a 50 front are seniors Elisha Dollar at safety, Dylan Patterson at end, and Jayden Gladney at linebacker.
“I think we can play with anybody in the state,’’ Scogin said. “We just have to put together a complete game. That’s the thing. We’ve got to be on. I think against Byrd was probably our most complete game offensively, defensively, and special teams-wise (won 35-21). For us to be special, that’s going to be the biggest thing, is to put together a complete game against one of the better teams in the state.’’
Airline’s quicksilver-like offense has produced 52 or more points in six of nine games topped by the 76- and 69-point totals the Vikings scored in victories against Natchitoches Central and Captain Shreve respectively. The victory against Captain Shreve was by a single point, 69-68, while the margin versus Natchitoches Central was four touchdowns at 76-52.
Conversely, the Vikings are allowing 35.9 points, a statistic not lost on Scogin the coach.
Airline has prevailed in four shootouts starting with a 52-49 season-opening win at Barbe that was followed in Week 4 by a 47-42 victory against Evangel. Then came the wild 69-68 District 1-5A win versus Captain Shreve in Week 5 followed by a 76-52 track meet against Natchitoches Central in Week 8.
“We score really fast and that kind of plays in a lot to the struggles on defense,’’ Scogin said. “They don’t get a whole lot of time to rest. I think we average like 50-something points a game. They’re on the field twice as much as every other team that we play and that they’re compared to.
“I tell everybody, I don’t really care either way, just as long as we have one more point than the other team, whether it’s 10-7 or 3-0 or 69-68,’’ Scogin said. “They have to be just a little bit better than the team we’re playing because that’s just kind of the philosophy we take.
“Statistic-wise, it definitely hurts them because people have a whole lot more opportunity to score points when they play us because they’re going to get a whole lot more possessions. So I think it plays a huge part into it.
“The second part is that as long as we’re doing our job – and everybody talks about complimentary football. The way our defense compliments our offense, it’s just on a larger scale, a larger quantity, because we’re going to try our best to put up as many points as we can.
“(Airline’s defense is) going to give up points, but it’s to the point (now) where you can’t give up too many. I think in every game this season, with the exception of one, I think that they’ve done a great job of that.’’
Taylor, likewise, heaps praise on Airline defenders for having stepped up when called upon. This comes as no surprise to Scogin given the charisma and swag that Taylor carries among his teammates.
“Ben is great. He’s awesome. Everybody likes him. Everybody listens to him. He’s a great locker room guy,’’ Scogin said. Plus, Taylor is “carefree, just fun to be around. That’s the first thing that I think of, (how) he’s extremely fun to be around. He’s a fun person. He’s just a great kid, fun to be around. You look forward to coaching kids like (Ben) every day. He’s just a good kid.’’
And humble as evidenced by these unsolicited thoughts he delivered: “First of all, I always give all glory to God because I know nothing would be possible without Him and everything I’ve done and all of my accomplishments are through Him.’’
In terms of clowning around or talking a little trash, that is reserved for private times with his father Jason, or other family members and close friends.
“It kind of depends on who I’m with,’’ Taylor said. “In front of the media and around other players, I try to stay as humble as I can. But when I’m around my dad or somebody (else) and we’re talking about personal stuff, I’ll definitely feel good about myself in that area because (the passing numbers and victories are) a great accomplishment. But I definitely want to give recognition to all of the guys around me, that none of this would be possible without them, too.’’
Recruiting has taken a back seat since the season kicked off following his July commitment to Northwestern State in Natchitoches. Taylor had seven offers at the time topped by those from Northwestern State, Grambling State, and Mississippi Valley State.
A subsequent offer has arrived from Mississippi State during the season inviting Taylor to join the SEC program as a preferred walk-on. Taylor is a full qualifier with a 3.3 grade point average and 4.6 speed in the 40.
“I’m not sure what I’ll end up doing,’’ Taylor said. “But as of right now, I am committed there (to Northwestern State). I just picked up a preferred walk-on offer from Mississippi State so that was a big deal. I’m definitely thinking about going over there. It’s definitely a decision to make.
“I really think about going there because I still go up there and I get every single thing the other players get. I get the gear. I get to travel. I get the equal opportunity except for my college (tuition) being paid for, which is OK with us (Ben, his father Jason, and his mother Stephenie).
“My end goal, obviously like for a lot of football players, is to go to the NFL. Obviously, my chances of doing that increase by far going to a SEC school. So Mississippi State would be a great deal and that definitely helps a whole lot if I go there. That’s the end goal, just to go to the NFL. I definitely like my chances more from a bigger school like that.’’
“It’s still a little bit early,’’ Scogin said. “Right now, with the FCS and the Group of Five (conferences), you’re going to start seeing some turnover and some people leaving in the transfer portal. It’s all going to heat up. Ben is going to end up with 12,000 (passing) yards, so there probably are going to be some (colleges) come in and try to steal him away.
“For me, we’ve got to make sure that he has the best opportunity. But I think (his current offers are) a great opportunity for him right now.’’
All of that, however, is on hold for the moment and hopefully for the next five weeks as well.
“Definitely, the main (destination) for me is the same goal we’ve been trying to get to since Coach Scogin got here,’’ Taylor said. “It’s the same goal that every team wants, is to go 10-0 and win the district you’re in. Obviously, we haven’t (advanced) to the playoffs yet.
“But from what we have been able to do so far, being at 9-0 right now is like the main goal and a huge deal for what we’ve been trying to work on these past few years that Coach Scogin has been here.
“I would say if we can go 10-0 this season, that would be the most remarkable big deal that we’ve had since Coach Scogin got here.’’