(6) Football secures outright Heart South title with 43-21 win over MNU

OLATHE – Benedictine Football secured the outright Heart South Championship on Saturday with a 43-21 win over the MNU Pioneers at the Olathe District Activities Complex. 

The No. 6-ranked Ravens scored 16 unanswered in the third quarter to pull away from the Pioneers after leading 27-14 at the half.

After the Pioneers scored to open the game, the Ravens responded with two rushing touchdowns to take over the lead. Rayshon Mills scored first on a 1-yard rush followed by Garrett Kettle on a 9-yard rush in the final 90 seconds of the first quarter.

MNU opened the second quarter with a touchdown to the game before the Ravens took to the air headed into the half. Kettle connected on a 15-yard pass to Reed Levi to open the second-quarter scoring and then hit Ethan Peratt on a 9-yard pass with 54 seconds left in the quarter to push Benedictine ahead by 13 at the break.

Benedictine opened their 16-point third quarter with a safety. Heath Baker tackled the Pioneer runner for a 7-yard loss to give the Ravens their two defensive points. Austin Bueteaux scored on a 2-yard pass from Kettle and then JaShawn Todd scored on a 29-yard pass from Kettle to push the Ravens ahead 43-14.

The Pioneers scored the final points of the game just inside the final 10 minutes of the game but couldn't get anything else as Benedictine secured the win.

Defensively, the Ravens held the Pioneers to just 67 yards on 32 carries while they rushed for 247 yards. Offensively, the Ravens had one of their better-balanced performances en route to 508 yards of total offense. They added 261 yards through the air as they finished with 68 plays on offense. 

The Ravens finished with four takeaways defensively as Javhi Blomquist and Jackson Hoskins each had an interception. Dwayne Lacey and Tim Glaser had two forced fumbles. Tim Glaser recorded a fumble recovery while Zach Gill recovered the second fumble. The Ravens finished with 11 tackles for a loss with 6 total sacks. Tim Glaser recorded 2 sacks while Gills, Baker, Lacey, Joseph Burke, and Jack Young combined for the remaining 4. Blomquist and Hoskins led the Ravens with 6 tackles each. Baker, Tim Glaser, Lacey, and Joe Glaser recorded 2 tackles for a loss each. 

Kettled finished with 239 yards passing with 4 touchdowns on 16 completions. Butueax led the receivers with 48 yards on 2 catches while Levi added 45 yards on 2 catches. In total, Kettle and Luke Laskowski connected to 11 receivers in the win. Dalton Witherspoon led the rushing attack, recording his first career 100-yard rushing game with 108 yards on 15 carries. Kettle added 57 yards with Jacob Gathright rushing for 53 yards on 2 carries.

Benedictine finishes the regular season with an overall record of 10-1 while posting a 5-0 mark in the Heart South. The conference title marks the Ravens third during the Heart divisional format as they won the Heart North in 2017 and 2018 and is the program's 10 overall Heart Championship.

The NAIA will announce their 16-team Football Championship Series field at 6 p.m. Sunday on the NAIA's official YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/PlayNAIA. Links will also be posted to the show on the NAIA Twitter and Facebook pages.

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