This Week in Benedictine Football History

 Week 2

August 29, 1997

Benedictine 14, Midpark 0   

Coach Al Hodakievic returned only four starters on defense and three on offense.

            While the faces may have changed, the 1997 Bengals team continued to feature a very tough defensive unit, which was very efficient in the early part of the season.

            In the season opener at Baldwin-Wallace College’s Finnie Stadium, Benedictine played a new opponent, Midpark.           

Although it was the Bengals team that left with a 14-0 victory, coach Al Hodakievic was not entirely pleased with his team’s performance.

The win also extended a string of 37 straight seasons of at least one defensive shutout by the Bengals.

            And defense was the name of the game in this opener…. by both teams.

            The Plain Dealer’s Don Friedman wrote, “Be it Division III or Division IV, Benedictine has another excellent football team this season. The Bengals won the Division III state championship last fall. Because of a drop in enrollment, Benedictine is playing in Division IV this year. But the Bengals, as always, play like a Division I football team.”

            You would be hard-pressed to convince Coach Hodakievic that his team played like a team in Ohio’s largest football division.

            He did begrudgingly admit, “We came out with a win,” he said to the Plain Dealer. “The defense did a heck of a job. We just couldn’t get the job done when we were in the red zone in the second half.”

            He continued with the same thoughts to the Berea News Sun.

            “When we get into the scoring zone as we did tonight, we’ve got to do more than smell the end zone, we’ve got to taste it,” said Hodakievic.

            “Every time we got close in the second half, we killed ourselves with penalties,” Hodakievic added.

            The fourth-year coach was referring to the nine penalties drawn by the Bengals for a total of 94 yards.

            Benedictine did all of its scoring in the first half. Neither team seriously threatened in the second half.

            In the first quarter, sophomore running back Justin Fraley broke through on a handoff and headed straight for the right sidelines on a 68-yard scoring run with 8:51 left.   

Then, in the second, Fraley scored from the 12 with 7:32 before halftime.

            Senior kicker Errol Senel kicked the extra point after each touchdown.

            The 14-0 win also extended the Bengals winning streak to eight games going back to midway through the 1996 season.

            Midpark coach Ray Hradek said, “Benedictine is a good football team. It has speedy running backs and their quarterback (Tom Fejes) played very well. He made the big plays for them. We had the right coverage at times, but he was athletic enough to complete the play.”

            Hradek continued, “We knew we couldn’t run on them  - especially with their two big tackles (seniors Gene Mruczkowski, 6-3, 295 and Ivan Douglas, 6-7, 295).”

            Fejes finished the game with seven completions in 13 attempts. Adam Szweda, a junior wide receiver, caught three Fejes passes for 82 yards.

NOTES:

Gene Mruczkowski and Ivan Douglas went on to have stellar careers in college. Douglas was an offensive line starter on the Ohio State 2002 national championship team.

Mruczkowski played at Purdue, following a line of former Bengals who played there.  After a redshirt season, Mruczkowski started all the games he played in with the Boilermakers. He was a member of the offensive line that blocked for quarterback Drew Brees, who would later lead the New Orleans Saints to the Super Bowl XLIV title.

Mruczkowski would earn two Super Bowl rings as a member of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVIII and Super Bowl XXXIX. Mruczkowski was an undrafted free agent guard who was signed by New England.  He was with the Patriots from 2003-06, the Miami Dolphins in 2007 and resigned and retired from the NFL with New England in 2008.  

Boardman 35, Benedictine 6

August 24, 2012

Week 1

                BOARDMAN – There would not be a comeback victory like last season for the Bengals in this game.  This year, Boardman left no doubt with a strong 35-6 win over the Bengals.

                Last season at Bedford Stadium, Benedictine trailed 21-3 early in the second quarter, but rallied to hold on to a 31-30 victory over the Spartans.

                This year, Boardman scored twice in the first quarter on a pair of touchdowns by Turel Thompson.

                Benedictine marched back on an eight-play, 67-yard drive that ended with senior Marshall Howell scoring from the one. He had the key play in the drive with a 56-yard run on the first play which took the ball to the 11.

                The extra point kick was missed and the Bengals trailed 14-6 with 8:19 left in the first half.

                The Spartans increased their lead to 21-6 when they went 56 yard in just three plays with Darius Sanders scoring from 17 yards.

                In the second half, Boardman scored one time in the third quarter and the fourth quarter.

                Brock Hull, who led the Spartans with seven catches for 65 yards, caught a 19-yard scoring pass from John Babos late in the third. Babos was near perfect for Boardman completing 10 of 12 passes for 104 yards and two touchdowns.

                Boardman got the final score on a 13-yard run by Darius Sanders, his second touchdown of the game.

                Marshall Howell led the Bengals with 86 yards rushing on 17 carries. Jerome Baker added 48 yards in six carries.

                Overall, Boardman outgained the Bengals 378-139.

Wally Mieskoski ‘71

Benedictine Football Historian

               

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This Week in BHS Football 2012 Week 1

August 25, 2007

Benedictine 28, ND 7

  

            The first meeting between Benedictine and Notre Dame took place in a new event called the Charity Game at the new Cleveland Browns Stadium. There was a little bit of the new and the old in this game.         

            It was the third edition of this high school football doubleheader.

For Benedictine, the 28-7 victory was a satisfying win in a new Stadium over a new rival with old ties.

            After a scoreless first quarter, Benedictine scored first early in the second on a halfback option pass from junior Anthony Urbania to a wide-open senior wide receiver Josh Dunleavy that covered 44 yards. Josh Steigerwald kicked the extra point that gave the Bengals a 7-0 lead.

The Bengals moved 45 yards in three plays for the game’s first score.

Forcing the Lions to punt, the Bengals moved from their own 46.  A big run of 33 yards by Romel Dismuke took the ball to the ND 18, but after a holding call moved the ball back to the 26.

On the next play, the Bengals fumbled and the ball was picked by the Lions John Fioritto who went 65 yards for the touchdown. Joe Vucic kicked the extra point to tie the game with 9:02 left in the second.

Benedictine took possession on its own 15 with 4:04 left in the first half. The Bengals were struggling to put together a time-consuming drive. At one point, the Bengals were facing a third and 32 situation. But Justin Kollie, a junior running back broke free for 34 yards for the first down to put the Bengals deep into the Lions territory. Three plays later, Coach Art Bortnick pulled another trick out of his playbook.

It was another halfback option pass with Romel Dismuke throwing to Marty Sweeney for a 43-yard touchdown pass with just 29 seconds left in the first half.

Sweeney made a nice move on the ND defender, who fell down, to catch the ball that gave the Bengals a 14-7 lead after Steigerwald’s kick.

He told Bob Fortuna of the Plain Dealer, “I saw the defender slip so I had to come back, adjust to the football and grab it.” Sweeney also had a great game as a defensive back as he had six tackles and batted down three passes.

Dismuke increased the lead to 21-7 when he scored on a 14-yard run with 6:31 left in the third quarter. Steigerwald kicked the conversion.

The final touchdown came on a nine-yard run by Dismuke, who was named the game’s Most Valuable Player Award. That score came with 3:06 left in the game and provided some late-game insurance points.

Early in the game when the Lions recovered a fumble at the Benedictine 16, they gave the ball back several plays later when the Bengals Jason Pinkston intercepted a pass near the goal line.

It was a day for the defense as the Bengals repeatedly stopped the Lions from reaching the end zone.

Benedictine forced ND to punt five times and prevented the Lions from converting on five fourth-down situations.

Bengals coach Art Bortnick told Bill Tilton of the News-Herald, “We relied on our defense.”

The Bengals defense shut down the Lions running game limiting them to minus 13 yards in 27 carries.

ND held a narrow edge in the passing attack gaining 121 yards to the Bengals 113. Benedictine outgained ND 362-108 in total offense.

Benedictine also held an 11-9 advantage in first downs. How good was the Bengals defense in this game? ND did not get its initial first down until the third quarter.

Losing four fumbles in the first half prevented the Bengals from making this game a rout.

# # #

Wally Mieskoski ’71

Benedictine Football Historian

Bengals Celebrate Dedication of Bossu Field and First Day of Full Contact

Across Ohio, football players celebrated the end of the first week of practice with the first day of full-contact football; Benedictine Football, however, had much more to celebrate as over 400 alums came to campus on Saturday to dedicate Bossu Field.

After a brief ceremony, players at all levels of the program warmed-up and conducted a controlled intra-squad scrimmage.  While coaches were generally pleased with the efforts, week two brings a new set of challenges as the Bengals will scrimmage three times in ten days in preparation for the team's season opener at Boardman on August 24th.

Practice highlights included Senior linemen Jaylen Funches and Peter Cvijanovich beginning practice in the circle: