The No. 3 Lindenwood football team received a scare on Halloween but it kept its perfect season going with a 41-31 victory over Benedictine on Saturday afternoon at Hunter Stadium.
The Lions defense gave up over 500 yards of offense but intercepted two passes in the endzone. Both interceptions were followed by quick Lindenwood touchdowns and those momentum swings were the difference in the game.
Lindenwood won the field position battle early in the game and it led to its first touchdown. After a Nick Somes’ punt was downed on the one-yard line, Benedictine went three-and-out and Lindenwood took over in Ravens territory. Seven plays later,
Denodus O’Bryant scored on a two-yard rush for the only points in the first quarter.
In the second, both offenses were moving the ball as Benedictine scored a field goal and touchdown around a Lindenwood touchdown. The Lions' score came when
Philip Staback rushed the ball in from one yard out.
Lindenwood was finally stopped after Staback’s streak of not throwing an interception was snapped at 100 attempts. Benedictine, trailing 14-9, appeared to be on the verge of going ahead at halftime when it had a pass intercepted by
Damian James. James returned the ball 39 yards and a personal foul gave the Lions another drive starting in Ravens territory. Sixty-one seconds remained on the clock but the Lions only needed 28 before Staback collected another rushing touchdown to put Lindenwood up 21-9 at halftime.
The Lions special teams came through with another touchdown to start the second half.
Roren Thomas, who earlier in the game had a kickoff return touchdown called back because of a penalty, returned another kickoff to the endzone, this one without a yellow flag appearing. Benedictine answered with a 16-play drive that ended in a touchdown that made the game 27-16 and it remained that for the rest of the third.
In the fourth quarter, Lindenwood struck first with their fourth rushing touchdown of the game, this one from
Richard Murrell, which put the Lions up 34-16. The Ravens answered with a touchdown to pull within 10 with 9:13 remaining, and they got the ball back on an onside kick.
Lindenwood’s defense held when it needed to though when
Cody Fogle intercepted a pass in the endzone. Two plays later, Staback found
Rudy Fleming with a 27-yard touchdown reception to put the Lions up 41-24. Benedictine scored one more time after a good kickoff return but Fleming caught that onside kick which sealed the victory.
Staback finished the game with 243 yard passing and 46 yards rushing and was involved in three touchdowns. O’Bryant had 78 yards on 10 rushes, and
Marcel Thompson, Fleming, and Roren Thomas all had a team-high 58 yards receiving. Thomas finished with 196 all-purpose yards including 24 rushing yards and 114 yards on kickoff returns.
Dan Carlisle led the Lindenwood defense with 10 tackles.
Alvin Davie had the only sack and
Adarrious Ross returned from an injury to record three pass breakups.
Game Notes: Lindenwood improves to 8-0 overall and in the HAAC, while Benedictine falls to 4-5 overall and in conference play … the 10-point victory was the largest for Lindenwood in 16 games against the Ravens … the Lions are one win away from clinching at least a share of the 2009 HAAC Championship … the game was broadcast by the CollegeFanz Sports Network and Philip Staback was named by the network as Lindenwood’s Player of the Game … Lindenwood has now won 17 straight HAAC games and 16 straight games at Hunter Stadium … the Lions have five kickoff return touchdowns on the season … the Lions have won five out of the last six meetings against Benedictine.