Same Old Story: Benedictine rallies to beat Padua 28-17

For Benedictine fans, the script was familiar… another come-from-behind victory.

                For the fifth time this season, the Bengals erased a deficit to earn a tough 28-17 win over visiting Padua Franciscan at Bedford Bearcat Stadium in a key North Coast League match-up.

                Held scoreless in the first half by a very good Bruin defense, the Bengals scored 28 second-half points, including 21 points in the fourth quarter to earn their first winning season since 2004. Coach

Ben Malbasa’s team is now 6-1, while Padua drops to 1-6.

                Padua took a 7-0 lead into halftime and then added a 36-yard field goal early in the third for a 10-0 lead. Benedictine’s senior back Bryan Lacey scored on a one-yard run to complete an eight-play, 75-yard drive midway through the third to cut the gap to 10-7.

                Later in the third, Padua scored again to give the Bruins a 17-7 edge.

                From there, though, it was all Bengals.

                Junior back Marshall Howell scored three times in the fourth quarter to lead the Bengals comeback. He scored on a 70-yard pass play from junior quarterback Dan Piascik on the first play in the fourth quarter. That cut the Bruins margin to 17-13.

                Howell’s one-yard touchdown run with 6:46 left in the game gave the Bengals their first lead in the contest.  Dan Piascik passed to Kelvin Blake for the two-point conversion to increase the Bengals lead to 21-17.

                Adding some insurance points, the Bengals Howell scored on a 14-yard run with 47 seconds remaining in the game and with Toby Leahy’s second extra point kick of the game, Benedictine had secured a hard-fought victory.

                While Howell scored three times, senior back Bryan Lacey was the Bengals workhorse in the backfield carrying the ball 22 times for 181 yards and one score.

                Quarterback Dan Piascik completed eight of 19 passes for 159 yards include four to Mike Roberts for 70 yards and three to Howell for 84 yards.

                Benedictine outgained Padua in total offense 398 to 331 and led in first downs 19-18.

                But the most memorable stat of the evening was the number of penalties and penalty yardage. Both teams had 12 penalties. Benedictine had 123 penalty yards while Padua lost 112 yards to penalties.

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NOTES: Benedictine now leads the all-time series with Padua 8-1. This was the first meeting between these teams since 1986.

By Wally Mieskoski ’71

Benedictine Football Historian