Bengals Drive Long-Distance; Fall to Hoban in North Coast League game

Recap

October 19, 2012

Akron Hoban 48, Benedictine 21

                

                AKRON – Benedictine all-purpose back Marshall Howell continued his drive from long-distance. The senior scored two of Benedictine’s three touchdowns in this North Coast League loss to Akron Hoban. Both scores came from the other side of mid-field.

                His first score came late in the first quarter on a 65-yard run that completed a five-play, 80-yard drive.  On the two-point conversion, senior Dan Piascik threw the scoring pass to junior wide receiver Matt Merimee to close the gap to 14-8.

                Then, to start the second half, Howell fielded the low kick on his own nine-yard line, broke through the Hoban containment and cruised down the left sideline in front of the Bengals bench for the touchdown. Howell evaded several Hoban tacklers near the Knights 40 yard line to finish off his 91-yard return.

                Howell’s runback is 10^th longest in school history.

                It was Howell’s second long-distance scoring play of the game and nearly matched his long-distance score from the previous week. Against Walsh Jesuit, he ran 97 yards from scrimmage to set the school record, breaking the old mark by two yards.

                After Hoban scored with 7:01 left in the third, Bengals senior Jovon Dawson picked up the Knights bouncing kick-off at his own 20 and took only 16 seconds to reach the end zone. His 80-yard kick return for the touchdown was the second of the game for the Bengals.

                Benedictine football historians are scurrying to find out if the two kick returns for touchdowns in one game is a school record. Even if the accomplishment is not a record-setting achievement, it certainly has been a long time since it happened last.

                Benedictine still leads the series with Hoban by a margin of 11-5 but saw its eight-game win streak end over the Knights. It was the first Hoban win over the Bengals since 1991. Included in the streak by the Bengals were two state playoff wins in 2002 (Benedictine 23-20) and 2004 (Benedictine 42-28).

                Benedictine now prepares for its season finale at Padua Franciscan on Friday night October 26.

               

                NOTES: Benedictine leads the all-time series with Padua 8-1 and has won the last seven games dating back to 1980. The first game was played in 1963 with the Bengals winning 56-0 in Padua’s first year of football. It was the Bruins first varsity loss in school history.

                That game set the standard in this series. The 56 points are the most scored by either team in a single game and it was the only shutout in the series history.

                The only Padua win came on a Sunday afternoon in the mud at Byers Field in 1972 by the score of 13-7.

               

by Wally Mieskoski ’71

Benedictine Football Historian

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