Thursday's Thanksgiving meeting between the Benedictine Football team and the Baker University Wildcats featured two of the NAIA's top scoring and rushing defenses so far this season.
In the end, it was the Wildcat defense that forced four Raven turnovers that led directly to 9 points as Baker earned the 19-6 win on O'Malley Field.
Baker's first points of the game came on a drive that started after a Benedictine fumble when the Wildcats scored on a 53-yard touchdown pass. That proved to the lone touchdown of the first half as the Benedictine defense held Baker out of the end zone for the rest of the half, limited Baker to a par of second-quarter field goals.
The Wildcats' first field goal was set up after a fumble while their second field goal capped off an 86-yard, 19-play possession that sent the game into halftime at 12-0 Baker.
Benedictine's defense answered the call to start the second half, forcing three-and-out possessions by Baker on their first two possessions of the half with their third possession ending in a punt as well. It was in the third series where Benedictine's Brett Shepardson and Jalen James recorded back-to-back sacks to give the Ravens some much-needed momentum.
Even with the ball never leaving the Baker half of the field until early in the fourth quarter, the Ravens offense just couldn't breakthrough. The Wildcats capped off their scoring early in the fourth quarter on a 31-yard rush by Rashaan Houston.
Benedictine was able to get their offense going some in the fourth quarter. Garett Kettle put the Ravens on the board for the first time midway through the fourth quarter when he connected on a 52-yard touchdown pass to Tre Adger. The two-point conversion fell incomplete, leaving the score at 19-6.
The Raven defense stepped up once again on the ensuing possession, forcing another Wildcat punt but then an unusual series of events slowed the Benedictine offense. An interception that appeared to be a dropped pass was somehow kept alive by Baker's Mitchell Henry to end the Ravens offensive drive. Two plays later, James recovered a fumble that gave the ball back to Benedictine in Baker territory. That drive ended with an interception by Kettle which allowed the Wildcats to put the ball on the ground and chew up clock.
Benedictine finished with 213 yards of total offense while Baker finished with 342. Adger finished the game with 101 yards off 4 receptions while Kettle finished with 130 yards off 10 of 20 completions.
Defensively, five Ravens finished in double figures in tackles. Keon Boulware led the way with a game-high 16. James finished with 14, which included one sack and two tackles for a loss. Zach Gill added 13 while Tyler Tierney and Konner Walked finished with 11 and 10 respective. The Ravens finished with two sacks for a loss of 21 yards and 8 tackles for a loss for a total of 33 yards.
Benedictine finishes the fall at 7-2 and 4-1 in the Heart South. With the win, Baker clinches at least a share of the Heart South championship but the Wildcats have yet to play Evangel University.
The 2020 NAIA Football Championship Series is scheduled to start on April 17 with the normal 16-team qualifiers. With no first-semester rankings and uncertainties surrounding the schools that pushed their seasons to the Spring semester, it is still be determined if Thursday's loss will be the final game of the year for the Ravens.
