By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Benedictine Ravens football team advanced to its second straight NAIA Football Championship Series Semifinal with a 24-18 win over Friends University on the road in Wichita, Kansas.
Trey Williams deflected a pitch in the backfield and recovered the ball with three seconds remaining on the game on a fourth-down play by Friends to seal the win for Benedictine.
Benedictine jumped out to a 10-0 lead over Friends by the end of the first quarter. The Ravens scored on their opening drive of 74 yards in six plays as Xavier Ugorgi scored on a 39-yard rush. After Christian Klobe converted his first PAT, he added a 22-yard field goals with 22 seconds in the quarter to extend the Ravens lead.
Each team scored in the second quarter, first with K’Vonte Baker throwing a 35 yard touchdown pass to Austin Pratt, then the Ravens scoring less than a minute off the Falcons touchdown. Jackson Dooley connected on a 49-yard pass to Titan Osborn that capped off a two play, 56 yard drive to give Benedictine a 17-7 lead with 10:31 left in the half, a lead they would end up holding into the halftime break.
In the second half, Dooley connected on his second passing touchdown of the game, this time to Isaiah Hasten, on a 13-yard pass with 4:02 left in the third quarter to extend the lead. Friends answered with 15 seconds left in the third, a five yard run from Baker, and after a successful two point conversion, again with a run by Baker, trailed Benedictine 24-15 headed into the fourth quarter.
The Falcons scored the only points of the fourth quarter on a 37-yard field goal, and that’s where the game ended offensively. Friends entered the game on Saturday against the Ravens with the top rushing offense in the NAIA at 473.0 yards per game and the best scoring average in the NAIA at 57.7 points per game. The Ravens limited them to their lowest scoring total since Second Round loss to Grand View on Nov. 30, 2024. The Falcons finished with 338 yards rushing on 64 carries, also their lowest since the season-ending loss last year to Grand View.
Ugorgji finished with 153 of Benedictine’s 203 rushing yards on 18 carries to earn the Offensive Player of the Game honors. Dooley went 12 of 21 for 149 yards with two touchdowns while Osburn finished with 56 yards on three receptions with a score. Tanner Zimmerman had three catches for 36 yards
The Ravens advance to the NAIA Football Championship Semifinals on Dec. 13, where they will travel to Des Moines, Iowa, to take top-seeded Grand View University for a chance to play in the NAIA National Championship Game in Fort Worth, Texas on Dec. 20. Kickoff time for the Ravens and Vikings Semifinal has not been set.
Benedictine traveled to Grand View during week one this season with the Vikings holding on for a 27-24 win.
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