This Week in Benedictine History

October 27, 1990

Benedictine Shuts Out Cleveland Central Catholic 23-0

For the third straight year, Benedictine ended its season with a shutout victory over the Ironmen.

The 23-0 win gave the Bengals a 5-5 record. The victory, however, was tougher than it appeared in the final score.

Benedictine coach Augie Bossu was happy that his team did not have a letdown after a hard-fought 19-7 loss in the previous week against top-ranked St. Ignatius.

“It was a good team effort,” said Bossu, of his team’s win against Central Catholic.

As he had done so many times before, Pat McDonald got the Bengals off on the right track with a touchdown catch from junior quarterback Ron Schultz that covered 25 yards. The extra point kick missed so the Bengals led, 6-0, with 6:24 left in the first.

In the third, when McDonald fumbled the snap on a 38-yard field goal attempt, he had the presence of mind to roll out to his left and found Jeff Kadlub open in the end zone. That touchdown gave the Bengals a 12-0 lead. The two-point conversion pass failed.

McDonald had quite a game for the Bengals.

He had one touchdown catch, and threw one touchdown pass.  In addition, as a defensive back, McDonald intercepted one pass and swatted away several passes away from the Central receivers.

After Central failed to move the ball on its next possession, the Ironmen went into punt formation. The snap went over the head of the punter into the end zone where the Bengals Ben DeJohn tackled the punter for a safety.

That increased the lead to 14-0.

Following the free kick, the Bengals moved to the CCC 23. The big play of the drive came when Schultz hit Mike Clark for an 18-yard gain.

The drive ended with Denis Belusic kicked a 24-yard field goal that boosted the lead to 17-0 with 11:47 left in the game.

Benedictine’s final touchdown came on a sequence of turnovers.

The Bengals Andy Kostos, who was the game’s leading ground gainer with 70 yards in 12 carries, picked up 46 yards in a drive that took the ball to the CCC one, where a fumble was recovered by Central Catholic.

On the next play, Central fumbled the ball back to the Bengals with Bill Davis recovering once again at the one.

From there, the Bengals fullback Mel Johnson popped over for the game’s final points.

NOTES: The 5-5 season record may not have been impressive but the competition facing the Bengals this season was top-notch.

Three of the losses came on late field goals by a total of five points. Those losses were to Mansfield Senior (22-19), Steubenville (13-12) and Akron Hoban (9-8). The other losses were by two touchdowns each to Sandusky and St. Ignatius.

by Wally Mieskoski ’71

Benedictine Football Historian

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Bengals Drive Long-Distance; Fall to Hoban in North Coast League game

Recap

October 19, 2012

Akron Hoban 48, Benedictine 21

                

                AKRON – Benedictine all-purpose back Marshall Howell continued his drive from long-distance. The senior scored two of Benedictine’s three touchdowns in this North Coast League loss to Akron Hoban. Both scores came from the other side of mid-field.

                His first score came late in the first quarter on a 65-yard run that completed a five-play, 80-yard drive.  On the two-point conversion, senior Dan Piascik threw the scoring pass to junior wide receiver Matt Merimee to close the gap to 14-8.

                Then, to start the second half, Howell fielded the low kick on his own nine-yard line, broke through the Hoban containment and cruised down the left sideline in front of the Bengals bench for the touchdown. Howell evaded several Hoban tacklers near the Knights 40 yard line to finish off his 91-yard return.

                Howell’s runback is 10^th longest in school history.

                It was Howell’s second long-distance scoring play of the game and nearly matched his long-distance score from the previous week. Against Walsh Jesuit, he ran 97 yards from scrimmage to set the school record, breaking the old mark by two yards.

                After Hoban scored with 7:01 left in the third, Bengals senior Jovon Dawson picked up the Knights bouncing kick-off at his own 20 and took only 16 seconds to reach the end zone. His 80-yard kick return for the touchdown was the second of the game for the Bengals.

                Benedictine football historians are scurrying to find out if the two kick returns for touchdowns in one game is a school record. Even if the accomplishment is not a record-setting achievement, it certainly has been a long time since it happened last.

                Benedictine still leads the series with Hoban by a margin of 11-5 but saw its eight-game win streak end over the Knights. It was the first Hoban win over the Bengals since 1991. Included in the streak by the Bengals were two state playoff wins in 2002 (Benedictine 23-20) and 2004 (Benedictine 42-28).

                Benedictine now prepares for its season finale at Padua Franciscan on Friday night October 26.

               

                NOTES: Benedictine leads the all-time series with Padua 8-1 and has won the last seven games dating back to 1980. The first game was played in 1963 with the Bengals winning 56-0 in Padua’s first year of football. It was the Bruins first varsity loss in school history.

                That game set the standard in this series. The 56 points are the most scored by either team in a single game and it was the only shutout in the series history.

                The only Padua win came on a Sunday afternoon in the mud at Byers Field in 1972 by the score of 13-7.

               

by Wally Mieskoski ’71

Benedictine Football Historian

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This Week in Benedictine History

October 18, 2003

Benedictine 30, Villa Angela-St. Joseph 10

With an eight-game winning streak, Benedictine entered its next game at Euclid’s Sparky DiBiasio Stadium with Villa Angela-St. Joseph with some apprehension that was well-deserved. VASJ was poised for the upset.

Despite trailing 10-0 midway through the second quarter, the Bengals put together a “complete” victory as they scored 30 straight points to secure a 30-10 victory.

Bengals coach Art Bortnick made some adjustments and then the Bengals took control of the second half. Something had to be done. In the first half, VASJ ran 42 plays from scrimmage while the Bengals ran only 20.

The first step toward a comeback came on the legs of Raymond Williams, who scored on a 63-yard run with 6:03 left in the first half.  Sam Koyl added the extra point that brought the Bengals closer at 10-7.

That score came just 17 seconds after VASJ scored on a 13-yard pass from Mike Cvelbar to David Lighty. Sean Evers, who had a 31-yard field goal earlier, kicked the extra point that gave the Vikings a 10-0 lead.

Twice Benedictine moved deep into Viking territory but were turned away without scoring. At the end of the first half, the Bengals moved to the VASJ five, but a field goal attempt was blocked.

Then at the start of the third, Benedictine got down to the Viking one, but on three successive plays, were held for no gain, and losses of three yards and one yard as they turned over the ball on downs.

The score remained 10-7 through much of the third quarter.

On the second possession, the Bengals took over on their own 37 following a Viking punt.

Five plays later, the Bengals reached the end zone on a 44-yard pass from Joe Laffey to Lorenzo Hunter with 4:14 left in the third that gave the Bengals their first lead of the game. Koyl hit the extra point to make it 14-10.

The Benedictine defense held VASJ to a three-and-out and the Vikings were forced to punt from their own three.

Jon Huddleston took the kick on his own 44 and raced through the Vikings coverage team and scored on a 56-yard punt return for a touchdown.

The Koyl kick made it 21-10 in favor of the Bengals.

On the kickoff, the Vikings took over on their 23. An incomplete pass, and 14-yard sack put the ball on their nine. With the quarterback attempting a pass in the end zone, Bengals defensive end Chris Lorber made the tackle for a safety.

Now the Bengals led 23-10 with 1:15 left in the third.

Benedictine got one final score in the fourth with 4:13 left in the game as Maurice White ran six yards for the touchdown. Koyl’s kick made it 30-10 and a Bengals victory.

Both coaches heaped praise on his opponent.

VASJ coach Tom Schoen noted that the Bengals had scores by the offense, defense and special teams. He told Mark Koestner of the News-Herald, “What does that tell you? It tells you that they’re a complete football team.”

It was Bortnick’s turn.

“You have to give them (VASJ) credit,” he told the News-Herald. “That was a well-executed offense, and they played intense. They made plays. There were numerous times I thought we had them tackled, and then (Cvelbar) or a receiver made a play.”

Part of the halftime adjustments made by Bortnick resulted in superior defensive play in the second half. The Bengals held the Vikings offense to minus -25 yards after the break. 

Raymond Williams had his usual game rushing for 189 yards on 28 carries. That was a big share of the 273 yards running the ball in the game for the Bengals.

VASJ had more luck throwing the ball as they completed 13 of 30 passes for 140 yards and one touchdown.

Benedictine outgained the Vikings, 364-179.

The victory increased the all-time series lead by the Bengals to 10-7-1.

Now undefeated in nine games, the Bengals would like to complete their first undefeated regular season since 1997. But it would take a victory over tough St. Edward at Bedford Stadium in the next week.

Benedictine was 9-0 and ranked No. 1 in the Plain Dealer while St. Edward was No. 5 in the same poll.

The Eagles were looking for the upset that would give them a chance to host a home game in the state Division I playoffs.

Their hopes became reality as the Eagles topped Benedictine 18-13 to knock the Bengals from the ranks of the unbeaten.

NOTES:

The loss to St. Edward was the only one of the season for the Bengals.

                In the playoffs, Benedictine defeated Ravenna Southeast 35-7; University School 44-0; Lake Catholic 33-20; and Steubenville 49-7 to reach the title game.

                For the Division III state title, the Bengals defense once again came to the forefront shutting out high-scoring Kenton. The Bengals won its fifth state playoff crown with this 12-0 victory.

                The win in the title game gave the Bengals a 14-1 season record, the most wins by a Bengals team.

               

by Wally Mieskoski ’71

Benedictine Football Historian

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Marshall Howell breaks 42-year-old school rushing record

Recap

October 13, 2012

Walsh Jesuit 37, Benedictine 7

                Senior all-purpose back Marshall Howell broke a 42-year old school rushing record when he scored on a 97-yard run in the third quarter of the Bengals loss to Walsh Jesuit on Saturday October 13 at Bedford Stadium.

                Trailing 7-0 in the third quarter, the Bengals took possession on the four-yard line after a Walsh punt.  A one-yard loss on first down put the ball on the three. It was from there that Howell took the ball on second down and ran through the right side of the line, broke past Walsh’s first wave of defense and ran untouched into the end zone for the game-tying touchdown. Nick Judy kicked the extra point to tie the game at 7-7 with 5:43 left in the third quarter.

                Howell’s long run broke the old record of 95 yards set by Jim Johnson in 1970 in a 15-6 win over East Tech in a key East Senate game at John Adams Field.

                Benedictine coach Ben Malbasa said of Howell’s run, “Marshall's run came on a play called Stack Left Over 628.  Coach Joe Schaefer noticed they (Walsh Jesuit) were short a man on the weakside and we added the play at the half.  Jerome Baker threw a great block on the edge and Marshall read his block perfectly.”  

                Later in the third, Walsh added another touchdown to take the lead 14-7. In the final quarter, Walsh pulled away for a 37-7 North Coast League Blue Division win.

                Howell led the Bengals ball carriers with 133 yards in 15 carries. Jerome Baker added 77 yards in 12 carries.

               

Notes: Jim Johnson (Class of ’71) finished his record-setting game against East Tech with 152 yards in 13 carries.                Johnson also scored the game’s first touchdown on a four-yard run in the second quarter. With Pete Szabo’s extra point kick, the Bengals led at halftime 7-0.

                For his performance in the East Tech game, Johnson earned Plain Dealer Dream Team honors.

                Later that season, Johnson led the Bengals once again as he rushed for 144 yards in 26 carries in Benedictine’s 38-12 victory over St. Ignatius in the Cleveland City Championship Game at the old Stadium.  He won the game’s Most Valuable Player Award.

                That year Benedictine finished with a 9-1 record with its only loss coming to state champion Massillon.

by Wally Mieskoski ’71

Benedictine Football Historian

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This Week in Benedictine History

October 11, 1985

Lights Out: Benedictine defeats Akron Hoban 32-7

When the Plain Dealer rankings came out on October 10, there was a new Number One team: Benedictine.

The 28-6 Bengals win at Mansfield on October 5 also kept Benedictine in fifth place in the state-wide Associated Press poll.

On the same evening as the Bengals were defeating Mansfield, 28-6, St. Edward (the Plain Dealer’s Number One team at the time) was being upset by St. Joseph 6-0. That opened the door for the Bengals to walk through as the top-ranked team in the area.

Another road trip beckoned, as the Bengals faced Akron Hoban.

Benedictine defeated Akron Hoban 32-7 and it was “Lights Out” that had nothing to do with the score of the game.

It was the Bengals seventh straight win of the season and they won convincingly despite an unusually heavy amount of penalties. Benedictine was flagged 17 times for a total of 195 yards. Meanwhile Hoban was penalized 12 times for 105 yards.

Coach Augie Bossu was not pleased with the penalty situations.

“I don’t feel good because we didn’t execute the way we can and the way we should,” he told the Plain Dealer.

Quarterback Larry Wanke was lighting up the field with his passing. It was necessary since the lights at Dowed Field were slow to turn on since a car hit a light pole a few blocks away from the school.

There was even some doubt that the game could be played.

Only two of the six light standards operated at the start of the game. Shortly after the opening kickoff, two more light standards came on. It wasn’t until 3:23 of the first quarter that all the light standards were completely operational.

That did not hinder the Bengals passing attack as two of the three touchdowns scored in the first were through the air.

The first touchdown came on a Ron Grosel four-yard run with Mike Garred’s extra point kick.

Hoban tied the game on a 41-yard scoring run by Keith Reynolds and conversion kick.

Then Larry Wanke fired two touchdown passes both to Bob Clark before the first quarter was over covering 60 and 15 yards. Those scores gave the Bengals a 19-7 first quarter lead.

In the third, Ken Redd helped the Bengals increase the lead when he caught a two-yard Wanke pass to make the score 25-7.

Adding one more score in the final quarter, Benedictine’s Ron Grosel scored from the two and Garred’s kick made it 32-7.

The last touchdown was set up when linebacker Tony DeJohn recovered a fumble on the Hoban 18.

Earlier in the game, DeJohn had a 65-yard pass interception called back because of a holding penalty.

Wanke had another good night passing the ball as he finished the game with 298 yards on 21 completions in 44 attempts. He was slowed down in the second half after hitting 14 of 23 for 199 yards in the first half but the Bengals were in control of the game.

After three straight weeks on the road, the Bengals finally played another home game. This time Niles McKinley visited the natural grass field at Cleveland Heights Field.

By the time the Red Dragons came to the Cleveland area, Benedictine had moved from fifth place in the Class AAA Associated Press poll to the Number Two ranked team in the state.

                NOTES: Larry Wanke earned some notoriety in his college career. He started at the University of Pittsburgh and after the Panthers moved to a different style of offensive system that led to a quarterback controversy, Wanke left.  His greatest moment at Pitt occurred in a 32-27 loss to Texas in the 1987 Bluebonnet Bowl. Shortly after halftime, when the starter was injured, Wanke stepped in and threw three touchdown passes. After an unhappy experience at Pitt, Wanke transferred to John Carroll, where he set 16 school records. He was selected in the 12^th round by the Super Bowl champion New York Giants in the 1991 NFL draft. Wanke was the 334th player- and last player -chosen. By doing so, he earned the title of “Mr. Irrelevant” and was feted by organizers of “Irrelevant Week” held annually in Newport Beach, California for the last player selected in the NFL draft.  Wanke did make it a good part of the way through training camp with the Giants, but was eventually cut.

                Hall of Famers – Larry Wanke ’86 and wide receiver Bob Clark ’87 are members of the Benedictine Athletic Hall of Fame.

by Wally Mieskoski ’71

Benedictine Football Historian

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This Week in Benedictine History

October 7, 1944

Bengals top John Adams 12-6; Win First for Coach Norb Rascher

After starting the season with a pair of 13-0 losses to Holy Name and Mansfield, Benedictine finally got its first victory of the season by defeating neighborhood rival John Adams, 12-6.

It was Benedictine’s East Side Senate opening game.

                Benedictine scored touchdowns by John Furin and Ed Bellovay in the second half as the Bengals rallied to take the victory after John Adams had taken a 6-0 halftime lead.

                It also avenged a 2-0 loss in 1943, when the John Adams scored a safety early in the contest for the only points in the game.

                This win was the first for new coach Norb Rascher who joined the Benedictine staff at the start of the 1944-45 school year.

                Despite his short tenure at Benedictine, Rascher is a legendary coaching figure in the school’s athletic history.

                Rascher came to Benedictine as the football, basketball and baseball coach from Altoona Catholic High School in Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1934 with a degree in economics. He earned letters in football and basketball.              

                An Indiana native, he was one of the last players invited to play at Notre Dame by Knute Rockne before the great Notre Dame coach was killed in a plane crash in 1931.

                Near the end of World War II, while at Benedictine in April 1945, Rascher, age 34, was inducted into the U.S. Army and left for Camp Atterbury, Indiana. He returned to Benedictine after the war in December 1945. Rascher continued to coach at Benedictine through the 1946-47 school year.

                The year after the great 1945-46 Bengals basketball season, when the team was ranked third in the nation, he left Benedictine to coach basketball at John Carroll University, which had wanted to play a big-time schedule.

                Joe Rufus was named to replace Rascher in May 1945 after to take over the reins later that fall until Rascher returned from the armed forces.

                Previously, Rufus had coached at Steubenville Catholic Central for two years. He remained at Benedictine until retiring in 1987 as athletic director.

                NOTES: This was only the second time Benedictine had beaten the John Adams Rebels in eight games. The Rebels had outscored Benedictine 165-57 in the previous seven games.

                Although the schools are separated by just a little over two miles, the teams had never met on the football field until Benedictine joined the Cleveland Senate in 1937.

                Benedictine, Cathedral Latin, Holy Name and St. Ignatius, all members of the Catholic League, accepted invitations to join the Cleveland Senate beginning in the fall of 1937. Benedictine and Cathedral Latin were assigned to the East Side Senate and Holy Name and St. Ignatius were assigned to the West Side Senate.

                Norb Rascher was one of a handful of people who were present when Notre Dame Stadium was opened in 1930 and when it was rededicated in 1997.

by Wally Mieskoski ’71

Benedictine Football Historian  

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Lions defeat Bengals

Recap

September 29, 2012

NDCL 44, Benedictine 7

The final score will be remembered in the history books as NDCL 44, Benedictine 7. But for the Bengals, it was a game to forget.

                In this North Coast League opener at Bedford Stadium, NDCL jumped to a quick 13-0 lead in the first quarter and then took the win.

                Benedictine is now 3-3 in all games and 0-1 in North Coast League competition.

                The Bengals finally put some points on the board on a 13-yard run by Jerome Baker with 9:28 left in the third quarter. Baker’s touchdown finished off a five-play, 31-yard drive that was set up when a short Lions punt went out of bounds at the NDCL 31.

Nick Judy kicked the extra point.

                But NDCL answered with a touchdown 39 seconds later after a long runback of the kickoff took the ball deep into Bengals territory. They scored two plays later.

                The Lions added nine points in the third and six in the fourth.

                The NDCL win narrows the Benedictine lead to 4-2 in the all-time series that began in 2007.

                There were some good performances in the game for the Bengals.

                Quarterback Brian Schoeffler completed 10 of 22 passes for 128 yards. Marshall Howell caught five passes for 74 yards.

                Defensively, Dan Piascik and Antonio Robinson each had interceptions. Piascik now has a team-leading four pass interceptions for 40 yards.

                In addition to his four solo tackles and 10 assists, Robinson added a three-yard interception return.

                Benedictine meets Lake Catholic on Saturday night at Jerome T. Osborne Stadium in Mentor in another key North Coast League game.

by Wally Mieskoski ’71

Benedictine Football Historian

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