November 16, 1996
Benedictine 24, Lake Catholic 10
Lakewood – Benedictine’s 24-10 upset win over Lake Catholic in the second round of the playoffs was one of the school’s most satisfying wins. It was also the 400th football victory in Benedictine history.
Lake Catholic was the state’s top-ranked Division III team and handed Division I state runner-up St. Ignatius one of its two losses of the regular season. Plus, in four previous games, the Bengals had never beaten Lake Catholic.
That was about to change.
With the exception of the first few minutes of the game, the Bengals played a nearly flawless game.
On the third play of the game, the Cougars intercepted a pass on the Bengals 33. A 29-yard touchdown pass followed to give the Cougars a quick 7-0 lead.
Later in the first, the Bengals took possession on their own 44. It was from there that senior back Walter Randall took a pitch from junior QB Tom Fejes, broke a tackle and then burst down the left sidelines for the score. Erol Senel’s extra point kick tied the game at 7-7.
That was all the scoring for the remainder of the first half.
With 7:23 left in the third, Benedictine’s Senel’s 32-yard field goal gave the Bengals a 10-7 lead. Lake Catholic came back with its own field goal of 39 yards to tie the game at 10-10 with 1:45 left in the third.
The momentum seemed to be shifting to the Cougars but that all changed just 11 seconds later.
Junior Pat Minnillo took the kick-off at his 11-yard line, raced up the middle and then cut to the right for an 89-yard kick-off return for a touchdown that gave the Bengals a 17-10 lead for good.
Walter Randall put the game away with a four-yard touchdown run with 2:38 left in the game.
The victory gave the Bengals a 10-1 record, while Lake Catholic dropped to 11-1.
Benedictine would now face Bellevue for the chance to go to the state finals.
Who were the heroes in this game? There may have been too many to count.
How about Walter Randall who rushed for 183 yards on 21 carries and two touchdowns?
You could also say the Bengals offensive line who protected quarterback Tom Fejes. He completed six of 16 passes for 126 yards and was not sacked one time. The defensive line would be a good candidate. They sacked the Lake Catholic quarterback six times for minus 28 yards, after being sacked only 14 times all season. You can’t leave out Todd Bacik and Justin Fraley who intercepted Cougar passes in the end zone to thwart their threats. Tim Lorber also picked off a Lake Catholic pass.
And you can’t forget Pat Minnillo, who helped swing the momentum back to the Bengals with his electrifying kick return to give the Bengals the lead for good.
But, was it an upset?
“I’m not surprised we won,” said senior Salem Simon, who starred as a two-way lineman. He had two sacks. “I knew it would happen,” he added.
Quarterback Tom Fejes said, “We knew we could do it. We still have two tough teams to beat.”
NOTES – In fact, Benedictine did defeat those two tough teams. They topped Bellevue 28-12 to reach the state title game. Then the Bengals topped Columbus DeSales 14-3 to win the Division III state title.
Lakewood Stadium was the new “home” field for the Bengals. They defeated St. Edward 27-0 in the regular season finale and then played three playoff games there. In the regular season, the Bengals had only four home games at Bedford Stadium.
Pat Minnillo had a season to remember making the return game for the Bengals something special. For the entire season, he ran back 6 punt returns and 2 kick-off returns for touchdowns. He opened the state title game against Columbus DeSales with a 92-yard kick return to the Stallions three. In the playoff opener against Olmsted Falls, he opened the game with a kick-off return for a touchdown. Then when the Bengals defense forced the Bulldogs to punt, he returned that punt for another touchdown. Minnillo gave the Bengals a 14-0 lead and the Bengals had yet to run a play from scrimmage. They went on to win 28-7.
In 1996 the Bengals finished with a 13-1 record, a 3-0 loss to Youngstown Cardinal Mooney was the only blemish.
This playoff state title gave the Bengals state titles in each of the decades that the playoffs have been contested, 1973, 1980, 1981 and now 1996. That string still continues with State Championships in 2003 and 2004. The Bengals are the ONLY team that can boast State Championships in each decade since the playoff system was introduced in the 1970's.
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Wally Mieskoski ’71
Benedictine Football Historian
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