In a game that was billed as a match up that would come down to the team that controlled the line of scrimmage, (3) Benedictine Football scored a new season-high en route to a 40-7 win over (13) William Penn University.
The Ravens averaged 5.8 yards per play on offense, scored 3 of its 4 touchdowns on the ground and had a number of high-leverage defensively plays as the earned the Heart-UEN Clash of the Week win over the Statesmen.
The game started with the Ravens striking through the air midway through the first quarter on a 18-yard pass from Patrick Hietert to Brendan Haisenleader. The touchdown capped off an 8-play, 76 yards drive that lasted just over 4 minutes on Benedictine's second possession of the game.
The Ravens capped off another scoring drive over over 75 yards early in the second quarter when Xiomar Hernandez scored on a 3-yard rush. The touchdown rush for Hernandez gave the Ravens two touchdowns on 2 of their first 3 possessions.
After the Statesmen scored on a 23-yard pass, the Ravens answered 40 seconds later on William Penn's next possession when Sam Towline returned his interception 60 yards for a touchdown.
Hernandez added his second 3-yard rushing touchdown just over a minute before halftime to push the Ravens lead 28-7 at the break.
Right as the teams took the field to warm up for the second half, Mother Nature forced a lightning delay that sent the teams back to the locker room. Luckily, it was just a brief delay of roughly 45 minutes that allowed the game to continue.
Benedictine extended its lead in the third quarter with a 6-yard rushing touchdown from Hernandez and a 33-yard field goal from Kyle Haarhuis.
The final points of the game came with just over 3 minutes remaining as the Raven defense pinned the Statesmen deep in their own territory before the Ravens would pick up the safety to cap of their scoring efforts.
Hernandez finished with 97 yards on 17 carries while Haisenleader finished with 73 yards on 9 carries. Heitert added 177 yards in the air off 16 completions while Titan Osburn was the Ravens top receiver with 37 yards off 4 catches. Hernandez added 35 on 2 catches to round out the Ravens offensive efforts.
Benedictine finished the game with 2 interceptions, a fumble recovery and 2 sacks. Ben Gilliland, Kolbe Sexton, Savion Paden and Justin De La Rosa finished with 4 tackles each. Paden recorded 1 sack for a loss of 12 yards while De La Rosa added the other for a loss of 7 yards. Isaiah Hasten recorded the Ravens second interception, with a 26-yard return.
After opening the season on the road with a pair of games, the Ravens return to the road next week, returning to Des Moines, Iowa, for the third time in two seasons to take on No. 1 Grand View University.
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