Benedictine football defended their home field in commanding fashion as they hosted a first round game of the NAIA Football Championship Series on O'Malley Field at Larry Wilcox Stadium.
The No. 6-ranked Ravens scored 28 unanswered to take command over No. 10 Southwestern College en route to a 35-7 win over the Moundbuilders.
Defensively, the Ravens limited the Moundbuilders to their first lowest point total since Sept. 1, 2016 - a span of 62 games – limiting them to the fourth-quarter touchdown.
After their first drive of the game stalled out, the Ravens scored on three of their next four possessions. Garrett Kettle scored on an 8-yard rushing touchdown for the first score of the game. Kettle found Tanner Zimmerman on a 16-yard touchdown pass to start the second-quarter scoring and then Dalton Witherspoon scored on a 2-yard rushing touchdown to put Benedictine up 21-0 at the half.
The Ravens scored on their first possession of the third quarter, this time Kettle connected with JaShawn Todd on a 57-yard touchdown to make it 28-0.
After Keyshawn Jones scored a 32-yard touchdown for Southwestern for the first score of the fourth quarter, the Ravens answered on a 50-yard pass from Kettle to Austin Buteuax to put the game out of reach for the Ravens.
Southwestern looked poised to add a second touchdown inside the final 5 minutes of the game, reaching the Benedictine 2-yard line after a penalty for too many men on the field for the Raven defense. Quarterback Luke Barnes was sacked on three straight plays, first by Isaac Anderson for a 9-yard loss. Next, Tyler Wilson and Gavin Spangler combined on a sack for an 8-yard loss before Wilson closed out the Moundbuilder drive with a solo sack this time for a loss of 10 yards.
Kettle finished the game with 225 yards through the air on 11 of 19 passing. Witherspoon led the Ravens on the ground with 63 yards while Kettle added 34. Todd and Buteaux finished the game with 68 receiving yards each as Benedictine finished the game with 339 yards of total offense.
Southwestern finished the game with 344 yards of total offense. Of their 12 drives, they were forced to punt 4 times, turned the ball over on downs five times and threw an interception on their remaining drive.
Zach Gill led the Ravens with 10 tackles. Blue Caplinger added 7 while Wilson and Gavin Spangler added 6. Wilson finished with 2 sacks for a loss of 17 yards. Spangler and Anderson added 1.5 sacks each for a total loss of 21 yards. The Ravens finished with 7 tackles for a loss of 43 yards while Lamont Shamburger recorded the interception.
For their efforts, Kettle was named the game's Most Valuable Offensive Player while Wilson was named the Most Valuable Defensive Player.
Benedictine will hit the road for the NAIA FCS Quarterfinal on Nov. 26 as they will travel to Marion, Ind., to take on No. 5 Indiana Wesleyan University. IWU beat Avila University 14-7 on Saturday to advance to the NAIA FCS Quarterfinals.
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