Benedictine downs old rival Holy Name “four” the win

Week 4

September 16, 2011

Benedictine 49, Holy Name 21

The Bengals made it four victories in a row as they scored four straight times late in the second quarter and early in the third quarter to break open a close game over old rival Holy Name, 49-21.

Junior back Marshall Howell had another big-play game for Coach Ben Malbasa’s team. He opened the scoring with a six-yard run with 8:24 left in the first. Freshman Toby Leahy’s extra point kick made it 7-0. For the game, Leahy converted seven of seven point-after attempts.

Holy Name tied the game on a two-yard run and extra point kick with 2:39 left before halftime.

Howell then took the Green Wave kick-off and dashed 89 yards along the right sidelines to the Holy Name two. On the first play from scrimmage, senior back Bryan Lacey darted into the end zone to give the Bengals the lead at 14-7.

After forcing Holy Name to punt, the Bengals took over on their own 12. Lacey had the key play in the drive with a run of 57 yards. The drive ended with a nice Dan Piascik-to-Mike Roberts pass play covering three yards. Roberts showed good control catching the pass while tip-toeing the sideline.

That score with just 11 seconds before halftime gave the Bengals a 21-7 edge.

To start the second half, it didn’t take Benedictine long to score … only 13 seconds. The Bengals took possession on the Holy Name 38. On the first play from scrimmage, Lacey ran that distance to the end zone to increase the lead to 28-7.

The team was not yet finished scoring in the third. A short Bengals drive concluded with a 33-yard scoring run by senior back Kelvin Blake to give the Bengals a 35-7 lead.

A Green Wave touchdown cut the lead to 35-14, but a two-play 66-yard drive with Mike Roberts catching a Dan Piascik 61-yard touchdown pass increased the lead to 42-14.

Another Bengals score in the third, on a 42-yard run by Lacey, gave the Bengals a 49-14 lead.

Benedictine had just scored 28 points, on four touchdowns, in the third quarter– all in a space of eight minutes and three seconds.

In the fourth Holy Name got its final score on a 41-yard pass interception return.

Benedictine increased its record to 4-0, while Holy Name drops to 1-3. The Bengals also increased their lead in the all-time series to 21-17-3.

Benedictine led the statistics battle gaining 394 yards in total offense to Holy Name’s 313. The Bengals rushed for 288 yards while holding Holy Name to 102. The Green Wave did throw for 213 yards. The Bengals managed 106 passing yards.

Lacey had a career-best 233 yards rushing on only 14 carries. He now has 603 yards rushing and is the team’s leading scorer with 60 points on 10 touchdowns. Mike Roberts had five catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns in this game.

NOTES: The 49 points were the most scored by the Bengals since a 49-25 win over Youngstown Mooney in 2004, the last time Benedictine won a state playoff title.

Holy Name is one of Benedictine’s oldest rivals dating back to 1929. In that first year of football at Benedictine, Holy Name defeated the young team (not yet known as the Bengals) 24-0 to end an 0-3 inaugural season.

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By Wally Mieskoski ’71

Benedictine Football Historian