(6) Football secures share of first Heart South title with win over Evangel, 30-7

Benedictine Football secured a share of their first Heart South Championship on Saturday with their Senior Day win over Evangel University. 

The No. 6-ranked Ravens dominated time of possession and limited the Valor offensively en route to a 30-7 win on O'Malley Field at Larry Wilcox Stadium. 

In addition to controlling the time of possession, the Benedictine defense also controlled the line of scrimmage. While Benedictine's lead stood at 7-0 at halftime, the defense limited Evangel to just 67 yards of total offense at the break.

Benedictine scored 23 straight points before Evangel was able to find the end zone. Garrett Kettle scored on an 8-yard run early in the second quarter to give Benedictine the edge at the half. He added a 1-yard rush in the third quarter that made it 14-0 Ravens with just over 5 minutes left in the quarter. Kettle connected on a 46-yard pass to Jacob Gathright for Benedictine's longest play from scrimmage to set up a 20-yard field goal for Harry Balke that pushed Benedictine ahead 17-0. Rayshon Mills capped off the third quarter by scoring on a 1-yard rush that was sent up by a blocked punt from Blake Dapkus.

The Ravens added another rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 1-yard rush by Kettle, but it was the defense that stole the show in the final 15 minutes of play. Benedictine sealed their win with three fourth-quarter interceptions that helped keep the Valor offense from getting more than their lone touchdown.

Not to be overshadowed in the win, were the efforts of the Raven special teams. In total, Benedictine finished the game with five punts inside the 20-yard line with three Valor drives starting from either the 1 or 2-yard line. Cullen Brunner finished with an average of 37.6 yards per punt off 8 punts while Kettle added a punt for 39 yards that pinned the Valor deep in their own end of the field.

The Ravens finished with 4 sacks and 6 tackles for a loss of 24 yards. Gavin Spangler led the Ravens with 10 tackles, including a sack and 1.5 tackles for a loss. Tyler Wilson, Jack Young, and Dwayne Lace combined for the three remaining sacks while Wilson, Isaac Anderson, Lamont Shamburger, Young, and Lacey joined Spangler with tackles for a loss.

Joel Mewis recorded two of the Ravens interceptions while Jackson Hoskins added the third.

Benedictine finished the game with 334 yards of total offense, 214 through the air, and 120 on the ground. Kettle finished with 66 yards rushing and 200 yards passing off 20 of 34 passes. Mills added 36 yards rushing while Gathright finished with 58 yards on 4 receptions. Reed Levi added 38 yards on 5 receptions while JaShawn Todd added 41 yards on 4 receptions.

The Ravens look to clinch the outright Heart South Championship in their final regular-season game of the year next week when they travel to Olathe to take on MNU. Kickoff from the Olathe District Activities Complex (ODAC) is set for 1 p.m.

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