This Week in Benedictine History

October 27, 1990

Benedictine Shuts Out Cleveland Central Catholic 23-0

For the third straight year, Benedictine ended its season with a shutout victory over the Ironmen.

The 23-0 win gave the Bengals a 5-5 record. The victory, however, was tougher than it appeared in the final score.

Benedictine coach Augie Bossu was happy that his team did not have a letdown after a hard-fought 19-7 loss in the previous week against top-ranked St. Ignatius.

“It was a good team effort,” said Bossu, of his team’s win against Central Catholic.

As he had done so many times before, Pat McDonald got the Bengals off on the right track with a touchdown catch from junior quarterback Ron Schultz that covered 25 yards. The extra point kick missed so the Bengals led, 6-0, with 6:24 left in the first.

In the third, when McDonald fumbled the snap on a 38-yard field goal attempt, he had the presence of mind to roll out to his left and found Jeff Kadlub open in the end zone. That touchdown gave the Bengals a 12-0 lead. The two-point conversion pass failed.

McDonald had quite a game for the Bengals.

He had one touchdown catch, and threw one touchdown pass.  In addition, as a defensive back, McDonald intercepted one pass and swatted away several passes away from the Central receivers.

After Central failed to move the ball on its next possession, the Ironmen went into punt formation. The snap went over the head of the punter into the end zone where the Bengals Ben DeJohn tackled the punter for a safety.

That increased the lead to 14-0.

Following the free kick, the Bengals moved to the CCC 23. The big play of the drive came when Schultz hit Mike Clark for an 18-yard gain.

The drive ended with Denis Belusic kicked a 24-yard field goal that boosted the lead to 17-0 with 11:47 left in the game.

Benedictine’s final touchdown came on a sequence of turnovers.

The Bengals Andy Kostos, who was the game’s leading ground gainer with 70 yards in 12 carries, picked up 46 yards in a drive that took the ball to the CCC one, where a fumble was recovered by Central Catholic.

On the next play, Central fumbled the ball back to the Bengals with Bill Davis recovering once again at the one.

From there, the Bengals fullback Mel Johnson popped over for the game’s final points.

NOTES: The 5-5 season record may not have been impressive but the competition facing the Bengals this season was top-notch.

Three of the losses came on late field goals by a total of five points. Those losses were to Mansfield Senior (22-19), Steubenville (13-12) and Akron Hoban (9-8). The other losses were by two touchdowns each to Sandusky and St. Ignatius.

by Wally Mieskoski ’71

Benedictine Football Historian

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