Stephens Does the Work, Piper Supplies the Finish as Benedictine Reaches 5–0

Dawson Piper removed the last uncertainty from Benedictine’s fifth victory. With Wisconsin Lutheran still within one score late in the fourth quarter, he intercepted Roman Morales and returned the ball ten yards for a touchdown. What had been a 20–13 game became a 27–13 road win, and the Eagles’ unbeaten start survived its latest conference test.

Benedictine left Raabe Stadium in Wauwatosa on October 10 at 5–0 overall and 3–0 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. The final margin was comfortable enough to describe a two-touchdown victory. The route to that margin required more work: an early deficit, a productive night from running back Dino Stephens, a second-half passing touchdown and a defensive score that closed the door.

Wisconsin Lutheran fell to 3–3 and 1–3 in league play. The Warriors had scored 70 points against Eureka a week earlier. Benedictine held them to 206 total yards and made their final attempt to recover a one-score deficit end in the opposite end zone.

Stephens supplies the workload

Stephens carried 33 times for 159 yards. His 13-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter answered Wisconsin Lutheran’s opening score and helped Benedictine reach halftime tied at seven. He also threw a one-yard touchdown pass to Jason Moore at the beginning of the fourth quarter, giving the Eagles a second way to finish a possession through their running back.

That combination is the central offensive detail of the game. Stephens supplied most of Benedictine’s rushing production and participated in two of its three offensive touchdowns. The Eagles could keep returning to the ground game without needing every scoring opportunity to come from their conventional passing attack.

Benedictine finished with 184 rushing yards on 39 attempts. Wisconsin Lutheran managed 71 on 29. The difference was not simply that one team called more runs. Benedictine averaged 4.7 yards per attempt, while the Warriors averaged 2.4. The Eagles had a more reliable method of advancing the ball and a clearer way to avoid asking their quarterback to rescue every possession.

The second half creates separation

Marcus Martin found Tristan Weglarz for a 24-yard touchdown with 11:18 left in the third quarter. That score gave Benedictine its first lead at 14–7. Martin finished 14 of 22 for 122 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. He did not need a high-volume passing night to contribute a significant change in the game.

Weglarz’s touchdown supplied the lead. Stephens’ pass to Moore then extended it to 20–7 with 14:27 left in the fourth. Wisconsin Lutheran responded through Morales’ 21-yard touchdown pass to Jamil Gordon, cutting the margin to seven with more than ten minutes remaining. At that point the game still required a defensive finish; Benedictine’s earlier offensive work had not settled it.

Piper provided that finish with 1:56 remaining. His return turned a possible tying possession into a second-touchdown cushion. It also completed a night in which Benedictine took the ball away twice without throwing an interception of its own.

Defense makes the lead sustainable

The Eagles held Wisconsin Lutheran to two successful third-down conversions in eleven attempts. That figure helps explain why the Warriors’ passing yardage did not translate into a larger score. A defense can concede individual completions and still control the game if it repeatedly prevents an opponent from extending possessions.

Benedictine outgained Wisconsin Lutheran 307–206 and finished with a 20–14 edge in first downs. Jake Diamantos led the Eagles with nine tackles and recorded a sack. Piper had seven tackles in addition to the interception return. John Thompson supplied the other interception, and Kenneth Wallace recorded two tackles for loss, including a sack.

Those contributions gave the offense room to operate without making the result depend solely on Stephens’ workload. Benedictine’s scoring was spread across the middle and late stages of the game, but its defensive production prevented the early Wisconsin Lutheran lead from becoming a larger problem.

An unbeaten record with another immediate test

Benedictine’s first five games have produced 187 points while its opponents have scored 65. That is a 122-point cumulative margin, calculated from the Eagles’ published results. The team has won on the road at Buena Vista, Lakeland and Wisconsin Lutheran and at home against Loras and Eureka.

There is variety within that record. The 28–25 victory over Loras required a much narrower margin than the shutout of Eureka. Saturday’s win required Benedictine to move past an early deficit and retain control after Wisconsin Lutheran narrowed the lead in the fourth quarter. The unbeaten start has therefore included more than one kind of successful finish.

St. Norbert is next, visiting Lisle on October 17. The Green Knights have won four consecutive conference games after opening with two nonconference defeats. For Benedictine, a fifth win has created a stronger position, not a finished conference race. The next assignment is to keep the ground game productive, preserve the defensive stops and make another important opponent chase the Eagles’ pace.