No. 7 Benedictine scored twice on the ground, twice through the air and picked up a pair of defensive touchdowns on Saturday en route to a 41-23 win over Peru State College to lock up the outright Heart North Championship.
Benedictine closed out the regular season with a perfect mark in Heart North play at 5-0 while going 10-1 overall and now they await their postseason fate as the NAIA will announce the field for the 2018 Football Championship Series at 4 p.m. Sunday.
It took the Ravens less than three minutes to put the first points on the board against the Bobcats. Charlie Nihart capped off a eight-play 75 yard drive when the scored on a two-yard carry. The first rushing touchdown on the day for Benedictine was set up by a 35-yard completion from Shaefer Schuetz to Aaron Jackson – a pairing that would factor in on two additional touchdowns on the day.
The first Schuetz-Jackson connection came late in the first quarter to and made it 14-3 Ravens when the duo connected on a 23-yard pass.
Both Benedictine second-quarter scorers were scored by the defense. Jalen James tallied a scoop-and-score from 21-yards out for the first touchdown of the quarter. That was followed by a Konner Walker pick-six of seven yards to push the Ravens in front 28-3 at the half.
The second Schuetz-Jackson connection pushed the Ravens advantage to 34-3 when the duo connected on a 17-yard touchdown pass.
After the Bobcats scored the third defensive touchdown of the game, Zach Renfro scored Benedictine's second rushing touchdown on a one-yard rush.
Peru State (3-8, 1-4 Heart North) scored two unanswered fourth-quarter touchdowns but it was too little too late as the Ravens had the game well in hand.
Walker finished with 10 tackles and two interceptions to lead the Raven defense that held the Bobcats to just 168 yards rushing off 55 carries. The Raven defense recorded three tackles for a loss of eight yards as Tyler Shephard, Damaria Walters and Will Alexander recorded a tackle for a loss each. Walters and Brett Shepardson were credited with two forced fumbles while Cody Sisson recorded the Ravens remaining fumble.
Benedictine finished with 404 yards of total offense as they eclipsed the 400-yard mark for the seventh time in 11 games this season.
Schuetz finished with 190 yards off 6 of 14 passing. Jackson finished with 75 yards off three catches and Nihart led the rushing attack with 92 yards off 16 carries as Benedictine finished with 214 yards on the ground.
The NAIA will announce the 16-team Football Championship Series pairings on their Facebook page at 4 p.m. Sunday.
