Benedictine University Athletics

The Benedictine University football team continued an undefeated start to the season by downing Concordia Chicago 40-20 on the road Saturday afternoon.

Azaan Tabari recorded an interception to set up the first points of the game. The interception, which came following a long Benedictine drive that stalled on the CUC side of the field, set up Benedictine at the 39-yardline. Izeyah Pruitt escaped for a 25-yard touchdown catch from Marcus Martin to open the scoring at the 5:49 mark, making the score 7-0. Concordia Chicago recorded a safety on a muffed punt with 3:55 to play in the opening quarter to draw within 7-2. The hosts followed with a long drive to take the lead at 8-7. 

Tabari picked off another pass to set up a go-ahead score. Tyler Pospisil scampered up the middle for a 15-yard touchdown to make the score 14-8 with 8:20 left in the half. Concordia Chicago was able to tie the game at 14 with just over two minutes to play in the second. Benedictine quickly moved the ball up the field, needing just over a minute to open a 21-14 lead when Jason Moore snared an 18-yard touchdown pass from Martin. 

The Benedictine defense forced a punt on the opening drive of the second half and the offense countered with a 75-yard drive to further the lead to 28-14 when Moore hauled in a 14-yard touchdown with 9:14 to play in the third. Tristan Weglarz extended the lead to 35-14 with a 30-yard touchdown catch with 3:18 left in the third. Tabari picked off the pass on the after attempt and brought it all the way back to make the score 37-20. Carter Velez finished off the scoring with a 20-yard field goal with 7:52 to play. 

Benedictine racked up 437 yards of offense. Martin finished 18-of-28 for 292 yards with four touchdowns. Moore caught 10 passes for 115 yards with two touchdowns. Pospisil carried the ball 20 times for 92 yards and caught two passes for 57 yards. Six players caught passes in the win. RJ Hatter led the defense with another double-digit tackle performance on the line, totaling 12 tackles with 1.5 for loss. Hatter also recorded a block and a pass breakup. Jack Hayden recorded two sacks for a loss of 36 yards.   

Benedictine (7-0, 5-0 NACC) heads to Rockford next week. Read Full Article