The Benedictine University football scored scored five consecutive touchdowns and piled up nearly 600 yards of offense in taking down Eureka College 41-21 to grab a win on Senior Day.
Following a scoreless opening 15 minutes, Benedictine struck on the first play of the second quarter.
Nathan Rillo connected with
Justin Hocker on a two-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring. Eureka scored the next 14 points, recovering a fumble to set up the go-ahead score with 7:33 remaining in the half. Benedictine responded with five consecutive touchdowns to pull away. Answering immediately,
Blake Shoddie caught a 56-yard pass to set up a two-yard run from Rillo to tie the score with 5:58 left. Benedictine forced a punt and took the lead with under four minutes to go in the half when
Evan Wydajewski dumped a short pass to the right to Rillo for a three-yard score.
Receiving the kickoff to open the third, Benedictine needed just three plays to push the lead to 28-14.
Alexander Corbett broke away for a 38-yard run before
Dylan Sigel followed with a 22-yard touchdown run. After another punt, Wydajewski found a wide open
Nick Shelton for a 31-yard touchdown on third down to lead 34-14 with 8:07 remaining in the third. Forcing another punt, Sami Ayosh found himself wide open for a 44-yard touchdown to cap the Benedictine scoring. Eureka responded with a touchdown and had several opportunities to cut into the deficit but the Benedictine defense consistently came up with big plays including a fourth quarter interception from
Keenon Davis.
Benedictine finished with 271 yards on the ground and 308 through the air. Wydajewski threw three touchdowns and finished with 306 yards through the air. Rillo caught two passes, ran six times and threw a touchdown. Sigel led the ground attack with 78 yards on seven carries.
Gregory Hoard ran 10 times for 55 yards. Ten different players carried the ball at least once. Shelton reeled in five passes for 106 yards and a score with Ayash adding 85 yards and a touchdown on two catches.
Tyler Walker, the leading tackler in the conference, led the defense with 12 tackles and has posted 10 or more stops in all but one game this season.
Jack Hayden added nine tackles including two for loss and logged a sack.
Jose Barragan and
Brian Pritt also notched sacks in the victory. JOshua Coats had a pair of breakups and an interception.
Benedictine (5-3, 5-2 NACC) plays at St. Norbert next week to end the season.
