COLUMBIA, S.C. – The 13th-ranked Benedict College Tigers may not have played their best, but still kept their perfect record intact with a 27-3 victory over Morehouse College on Saturday evening in Charlie W. Johnson Stadium.
“To God be the glory for the victory. Fifty percent of teams in America lost, and I’m glad to be on the winning side,” Benedict head football coach Chennis Berry said. “We did not play our best game today, but we found a way to get the victory. There are things we need to clean up in all three phases and get back to playing disciplined, fundamental football.”
The nation’s top-ranked defense held the Maroon Tigers (0-5 overall, 0-3 SIAC) to 195 yards, which was a season-high for an opponent. The Tigers (5-0 overall, 3-0 SIAC) held Morehouse to 77 yards passing and recorded six sacks. Morehouse was able to rush for 118 yards, also a season-high for an opponent.
“We always emphasize winning four battles in football games – win the effort battle, win the penalty battle, win the turnover battle and win the explosive play battle. We did not win the penalty battle, and we did not, in my opinion, win the effort battle. But we did win the explosive play better and we found a way to win a football game,” Berry said.
Benedict intercepted a Morehouse pass on their opening drive, and the Tigers took over and had a first down at the Morehouse 10-yard line. After three incomplete passes, Benedict kicked a 34-yard field goal by Tom Piccirillo to put Benedict up 3-0.
Morehouse got the ball and drove as close as the Benedict 7-yard line, where they kicked a 24-yard field goal to tie the game at 3-3 with 3:50 left in the first quarter.
Benedict drove 70 yards on eight plays on the following possession, with Aeneas Dennis completing a 12-yard touchdown pass to Rashad McCain to make it 10-3. Benedict added a 25-yard field goal by Piccirillo in the second quarter.
The Tigers closed out the first half with a 45-yard touchdown pass from Dennis to Jalen Jones with no time remaining in the first half to put the Tigers up 20-3 at the half.
Benedict tacked on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Dennis to Caden High in the fourth quarter for the final 27-3 score.
Duehart finished with 108 yards rushing on 10 carries. Dennis completed 23-of-38 passes for 235 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Jones caught seven passes for 102 yards and one touchdown.
“Offensively, we started two new offensive linemen today, and they did some good things and some things we’ve got to clean up,” Berry said. “Deondra Duehart ran the ball well today, and another solid performance by our quarterback Aeneas Dennis. But there were too many self inflected negatives (SINS) that caused us to stall offensively. Jalen Jones had an explosive day receiving, and we gave up no sacks. All in all, we did not play our best game in all three phases, but we found a way to win the football game.”
Dedrick Starkes had 10 tackles to lead the defense, while Jayden Broughton had seven tackles, including 3.5 tackles for loss.
“Defensively, we’ll get back to the drawing board,” Berry said. “We didn’t play as well as we’ve been playing, but we played well enough to keep them out of the end zone. I have all the confidence in my defensive staff that we get fixed whatever shortcomings we had today.”
Benedict travels to Miles College (4-1 overall, 3-0 SIAC), next Saturday.
Source/Image: Benedict Athletics
