Northeast Packer Christopher Stephens of the 9- to 10-year-old Columbus Youth Football League is hit with a 10-yard pass and scores his team's first touchdown to lead the Fort Benning Bengals 6-0 during the Bengals' home opener Oct. 4 on French Field...

FORT BENNING, Ga., (Oct. 8, 2014) -- The 9- to 10-year-old Columbus Youth Football League, Northeast Packers faced off against the Fort Benning Bengals during the Bengals home opener on French Field Oct. 4, coming away with a 24-13 win.

The Packers took over in the first quarter after a fumble recovery by Malachi Hosley on the Bengals' 44-yard line. With two seconds left on the clock, quarterback Tamarcus Williams hit Christopher Stephens with a 10-yard touchdown pass to lead the Bengals 6-0.

Bengals' assistant coach Glen Peeler said the fumble was caused due to miscommunication between the center and the quarterback.

The Bengals prevailed in the second quarter on their first two possessions with two scoring touchdown passes. Bengals' quarterback Benjamin Mann hit Vaudree Bedford Jr. on a 99-yard slant pass for the touchdown. Benjamin ran the ball in for the conversion to give the Bengals a 7-6 lead.

The Benjamin and Vaudree connection gave the Bengals a 13-6 lead on their second possession when the pair connected on an 86-yard touchdown catch and run with 3:38 remaining in the first half.

Peeler said both touchdowns were scored on the same type of play.

"That was a real good throw by (Benjamin)," he said. "He hit (Vaudree) perfectly in stride, in full speed. We saw the opening on the right side where (the Packers) were backing off of him. (Vaudree) was able to get behind the defenders and use pure foot speed to out run them."

In the third quarter the Packers' defense turned the tide with an interception by Christopher at their 33-yard line, which he returned to the Bengals' 42-yard line to set up a seven-play scoring drive, resulting in a Malachi 7-yard run which brought the Packers to within one point at 13-12.

Defensively, the Packers held the Bengals off in the fourth quarter.

Cameron Hill added a touchdown for the Packers on a 2-yard run followed by an unsuccessful one-point conversion putting them on top 18-13.

With under two minutes remaining in the game, Malachi iced the game with a 58-yard pick six to close out the scoring and a Packers 24-13 win.

Peeler said the Packers caught up to their passing game.

"Our quarterback put a little too much air under the ball and was able to tip them off," he said.

Though the last interception took the Bengals out of the game, Peeler said the players fought all the way to the end.

"I think we would have scored," he said. "The last one kind of took the breath out of us."

Peeler said passing, initially, was their strong point, as well as good tackling on the interior.

"We did have a couple of linebackers step up and make some plays, (but) unfortunately, our weakness was the outside," he said.

In preparation for upcoming games, Peeler said, the outside and tackling low are areas that will be worked on.