FAYETTE, Mo. – Despite a lengthy delay due to lightning, the rushing attack for Benedictine Football was able to rush for the highest total of the Joel Osborn era and the most rushing yards since the 2019 season.
Benedictine rushed their way to 453 yards en route to a 52-7 win over Central Methodist University after the game entered a three-hour lightning delay after the first play of the second quarter.
Xavier Ugorji rushed for 138 yards on 13 carries while Robbie Sharp just missed giving Benedictine two, 100-yard rushers as he finished with 97 yards on 5 carries with a pair of touchdowns.
The game opened with the Ravens scoring on a 42-yard pass from Jackson Dooley to Tanner Zimmerman inside the first two minutes of the game. After CMU answered with their own touchdown, the Ravens scored 45 unanswered en route to their second Heart South win of the season.
After Dooley connected with Joshua Zander for a 25-yard touchdown pass, Christian Klobe added his name to the Raven record book to close out the first-quarter scoring. Klobe connected on a 55-yard field goal to push the Ravens out to a 17-7 lead and broke the program record for longest field goal. The previous record stood at 54 yards by Carey Shaw during the 1978 season.
With the delay taking place in the second quarter, the Ravens were only able to add 7 points to their first-half total before an abbreviated halftime break. Titan Osborn caught an 8-yard pass from Dooley to give Benedictine a 24-7 lead at the half.
All four of the Ravens second-half touchdown came on the ground. Dooley scored on a 1-yard rush to open the second-half scoring. Xiomar Hernandez added a 4-yard rush to close the third quarter scoring. Sharp capped off the Ravens scoring with his two touchdowns in the fourth quarter of 46 and 12 yards.
Benedictine finished with 643 yards of total offense, while holding CMU to 177 total yards.
Dooley finished with 175 yards on 12 of 27 passing. Zimmerman led the receivers with 83 yards on 3 catches.
Defensively, Ben Gilliland led the Ravens with 8 tackles, which included 2 tackles for a loss of 8 yards. Peyton Jobe and Dylan Witherspoon added 6 tackles with Jobe record 2 tackles for a loss and Witherspoon adding an interception. Cole Johnson and Blake Casteel combined for 2 sacks while the Ravens finished with a total of 9 tackles for a loss of 29 yards.
Benedictine returns home on Saturday to host William Woods University at 1 p.m. for Homecoming. The Owls are coming off the program's first Heart win, beating Missouri Valley College in Fulton, Mo., on Saturday 36-35.
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