Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
LISLE, IL - The Benedictine University football team built a 28-0 first half advantage and did not look back in downing St. Norbert College 34-14 in the home opener.
Big plays set the tone of the contest early. Elijah Walker returned the opening kickoff 53 yards before a turnover. Juwann Nelson returned a punt 40 yards to set up the opening score, which took only 33 seconds to complete. Ryan Sample threw his first of four touchdown passes to Elijah Walker for a two-yard score with 11:16 remaining in the first quarter.
St. Norbert drove down and missed a field goal and Benedictine responded by marching 80 yards in seven plays to push the lead to 14-0. Sample hit Paul Gray for a 31-yard play early in the drive prior to a 24-yard scoring strike to Jesse Kilbourn with 7:03 left in the first. Sample threw for 191 yards and two scores in the first quarter alone.
Benedictine missed a field goal early in the second quarter but forced a quick three-and-out. Sample completed four passes in a five-play drive that spanned 63 yards to stretch the lead to 21-0. Walker and Omar Lopez snared plays for longer than 20 yards on the drive before Kilbourn reeled in his second score on an 11-yard pass with 10:42 left in the first half.
A nine-play drive late in the first half stretched the advantage to 28-0. Sample opened the drive by hooking up with Jake Valas on a 14-yard play. The touchdown came on a fourth-and-one play as Gray reeled in a 15-yard pass with 51 seconds to play in the half.
St. Norbert opened the second half with a 15-play drive to battle within 28-7. Benedictine countered with an eight-play drive to lead 34-7. Derrick Miles broke free on a 41-yard touchdown run with 6:10 left in the third. The visitors scored the final points of the day on the ensuing drive at the 4:47 mark of the quarter.
Benedictine racked up 482 yards of offense in a game that featured over 90 combined yards and over 150 plays. Benedictine averaged 6.2 yards per play and held a slim 30:04-29:56 advantage in time of possession. Both teams totaled 22 first downs and turned the ball over twice.
Sample finished 24-of-38 with 372 yards passing and four touchdowns to three different targets. Miles ran 11 times for 83 yards and a score while Walker caught six passes for 110 yards. Kilbourn made four catches for 58 yards with a pair of scores.
The defense was led by 14 tackles from Jarrett Lecas including 1.5 for loss. Maison Bittner added 13 tackles with an interception while Dane Eimer recorded 12 stuffs with a pick. Jordan Wallace also collected 12 tackles including 1.5 for loss. Brad Nolan punted five times for an average of 41 yards per punt, depositing two inside the 20 including a 65-yarder.
Benedictine (1-1) recorded the first win for head coach Josiah Sears over a team that finished 10-0 in the regular season last year and received votes in the preseason D3football.com Top 25. Benedictine will be home again next Saturday at 3:00 p.m. against Adrian.