October 28, 2011
Week 10
COLUMBUS – It was a bittersweet night for the Bengals.
Benedictine fought hard, but lost 31-14, to a tough Columbus DeSales team that was ranked No. 1 in Division III, Region 10 and a lock for the playoffs.
Late in the first quarter, Benedictine tied up the game with a Bryan Lacey short run to knot the score at 7-7. It was Lacey’s block of a DeSales punt that set up the Bengals on the Stallions seven.
Then DeSales rang up 21 points in the second quarter to take a 28-7 halftime lead. A 58-yard punt return, a 31-yard pass interception and a short run spelled doom for the Bengals.
On the opening drive of the second half, Benedictine drove 54 yards in nine plays to narrow the gap to 28-14, but they never again reached the end zone. The Bengals defense also kept DeSales out of the end zone, limiting the Stallions to just a 29-yard field goal in the second half.
The Bengals run defense did a great job of holding Warren Ball, an Ohio State recruit, to just 70 yards in 25 carries. He had just six yards in nine carries at halftime.
Lacey, the Bengals main running threat, had 100 yards in 26 carries. He also added an interception while on defense.
Despite the score, the statistical battle was close with DeSales holding a slight 241-204 edge in total offense.
The loss brought the Bengals record to 7-3, their best since 2004.
Many Benedictine fans left Columbus feeling that there was enough information to make an educated guess, while not official, that the Bengals would qualify for the state playoffs for the first time since 2005.
Victories by defeated opponents and losses by chief rivals for the final playoff spots helped keep the Bengals among the top 8 teams.
Those savvy fans were correct.
Benedictine will now travel to Mentor to face Lake Catholic at J.T. Osborne Field for the first round of the Division III state playoffs.
It will be the fourth time that these two teams have played twice in one season. It happened in 2001, 2003 and 2005 when they met in the regular season and again in the state playoffs.
Lake Catholic won the playoff game in 2001, en route to the state title. Benedictine won the playoff game and won the state title in 2003 and while Lake Catholic defeated Benedictine in 2005, they lost the next playoff game.
These teams met in the playoffs one other time (but not in the regular season) with Benedictine defeating the Cougars 24-10 on their way to the 1996 state title.
This year, the Bengals hope to avenge a 30-6 loss to the Cougars in a game played at Bedford Bearcat Stadium.
NOTE: Thanks to long-time Benedictine sports fan Bernie Wiederwohl ’75 for the following tidbit: Benedictine has now made the state playoffs in each of the five decades that this system has been in place, the 1970s, ‘80s, '90s, '00s, and '10s.
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Wally Mieskoski ’71
Benedictine Football Historian
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