MARSHALL, Mo. – No. 3 Benedictine Football scored 34 unanswered in the second half on Saturday while shutting on Missouri Valley University in the third and fourth quarter as they earned a 48-13 win to move closer to securing another Heart South title.
After the Vikings scored 13 unanswered of their own in the second quarter to erase the Ravens 14-0 lead, Benedictine quickly seized back the game momentum on the first possession of the third quarter.
Xiomar Hernandez scored a 65-yard rushing touchdown that took 11 seconds off the clock to put Benedictine back in front 21-13.
The Ravens finished off the quarter with a pair of touchdown passes from Patrick Heitert to Isaiah Hasten, the second of which capped off a 7-play 95 drive on the heels of a defensive stand by Benedictine to keep Missouri Valley out of the end zone after a fumble recovery by the Vikings.
In total, Benedictine scored 7 touchdowns with 5 of those on plays of 35 yards or more.
Heitert opened the Ravens scoring with his legs on a 40 yard rush in the first quarter. He then connected on a 39-yard passing touchdown to Titan Osburn to make it 14-0 Ravens. The Vikings closed within a point at the half as they sandwiched a 4-yard rushing touchdown between a pair of field goals.
After the Hernandez touchdown to open the third quarter, Heitert connected on touchdown passes of 38 and 42 yards to Hasten before the Ravens scored a pair of fourth-quarter rushing touchdowns to round out the game. Cooper Hajek gave the Ravens a 41-13 lead on a 1-yard rush before Robbie Sharp capped off the game with a 6-yard rushing touchdown.
Benedictine finished with 476 yards of total offense with a very balanced attack. They rushing for 243 yards while passing for 233 yards. They finished with an 8.2 yards per play average.
Heitert completed 13 of 18 passes for 215 yards while also rushing for 35 yards. Hernandez finished with 80 yards off 6 carries while Brendan Haisenleder added 70 yards. Hasten lead the Raven receivers with 89 yards off 3 catches while Joseph Lagafuaina added 44 yards on 3 catches as 9 Ravens caught passes.
Defensively, Ben Gilliland and Kolbe Sexton finished with 8 tackles each. The Ravens tallied three interceptions as well defensively. Xzavier Woods, Dylan Witherspoon and Matthew Castejon were credited with the interceptions.
Benedictine closes out the regular season in St. Louis next week as they take on Missouri Baptist University before heading into a bye week during the final Saturday of the regular season on Nov. 14.
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