HIGHLIGHTS: Benedict Falls to Limestone, 19-13

[gtxvideo vid=’fdZimePu’ thumb=’http://player.gtxcel.com/thumbs/fdZimePu.jpg’ vtitle=’HIGHLIGHTS: Benedict Falls to Limestone, 19-13′]

COLUMBIA, S.C. (Benedict) – The Limestone College Saints threw for 232 yards and took advantage of three Benedict College fumbles, then held off a late rally to take a 19-13 victory over the Tigers on Saturday night in Charlie W. Johnson Stadium.

“It was a tough loss for us. I thought the guys played hard, we made some mistakes that we couldn’t overcome,” Benedict head coach Mike White said.

One of the biggest blows came right before the half. The Saints, now 2-0, had a 6-0 lead as the second quarter neared an end. Limestone missed a 36-yard field goal with 55 seconds left in the half. The Tigers took over at the 20-yard line, and freshman quarterback Phillip Brown was sacked for a 7-yard loss and fumbled the ball back to the Saints. Limestone’s Shyheim Perry then caught a 6-yard pass from Ivan Corbin to give the Saints a 12-0 lead at the half.

“That was my mistake on that last time. I thought we should have downed the ball and gone into the half six points behind instead of trying to throw the ball with less than a minute and we didn’t have any offense the first half, so I’m going to take that one,” White said. “I thought we hung in there and we kept playing. We didn’t stop.”

The Tigers, now 1-1, took the second-half kickoff and drove 55 yards, with Brown scoring on a 3-yard quarterback sneak to cut the lead to 12-6.

The Saints took advantage of another Benedict turnover and a missed tackle to score. A long pass attempt by Brown was intercepted by Limestone’s Joshua Simmons at the 2-yard line. The Saints drove 98 yards for another score, getting a 58-yard touchdown pass-and-catch from Corbin to D’Anta Fleming, who caught a short pass and shrugged off a Benedict defender and raced the final 40 yards to the end zone for a 19-6 lead with 12:24 left in the game.

“We didn’t tackle well in the second half and it cost us,” White said. “We tried to turn it on the second half, but some of the mistakes we made in the first half, we couldn’t overcome them. They are a good team. I thought we blew some coverages. Still, we should have tackled better. If we had tackled better, we would have been in there.”

The Tigers fumbled the ball on their next possession, but held the Saints to a three-and-out. The Tigers picked up 27-yards from Jevric Blocker on a reverse, then Brown scrambled for a 26-yard pickup on fourth down to give the Tigers a first-and-goal. Brown completed a pass to Jeremy Johnson for a 9-yard touchdown, with Tory Mimbs adding the PAT to cut the lead to 19-13 with 3:51 left to play. After another Benedict defensive stand, the Saints punted the ball with 2:06 on the clock. The Tigers couldn’t move the ball and turned the ball back over to the Saints, who ran out the clock for the win.

Corbin completed 16-of-27 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns. Fleming had four catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns. Ga’Quan Maize rushed for 76 yards on 21 carries.

Johnson picked up 55 yards on 12 carries to lead the Tigers. Benedict’s two quarterbacks completed 7-of-20 passes for 64 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Brown was 5-of-12 for 39 yards passing and had 52 yards rushing, playing all the second half.

“I thought that was huge for us to get a new quarterback in,” White said. “He gave us some new juice and some new legs and made some plays for us. Hopefully, we can build off that. We’ve got a short week this week with a long trip to take and a short time to heal after a tough ball game.”

Benedict travels to Wilberforce, Ohio, next Saturday to face Central State University. Kickoff is 1:30 p.m.