Tigers Run Over Central State, 42-6

WILBERFORCE, Ohio (Benedict Athletics) – The Benedict College Tigers got a modern-era school-record 235 yards rushing from George Myers Jr. and the Tigers rolled over Central State University 42-6 in an SIAC football contest on Saturday afternoon in McPherson Stadium.

The Tigers, now 2-1 in 2016 after going winless in 2015, controlled the ground game with 333 total rushing yards, the seventh-best single-game output in the team’s modern history since resuming football in 1995. Myers’ 235-yard performance is the best by a Tiger in that time era, beating Terrance Bunting’s previous school record of 223 yards against Lane in 2003. Records from 1911 through 1966 are unavailable.

“The running game was good. I think when we can run the ball, we’re a pretty good team,” said Benedict head coach Mike White. “That was the plan going in and it seemed to work today and I’m happy about it.”

Myers had a 66-yard run in the second quarter, a 54-yard run in the first quarter that set up Benedict’s first touchdown, and a 55-yard scoring run in the third quarter. He gained his 235 yards on 13 carries, for an average of 18.1 yards per run. He also had 33 yards on kick returns for 266 yards of all-purpose yards on the afternoon.

Jeremy Johnson added 54 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries, while freshman quarterback Phillip Brown ran for 23 yards and two touchdowns. One of his scores came on a fourth-down quarterback sneak that gave the Tigers a 21-6 lead at the half.

“We hope we see more of that – good long drives, running the ball and just dominating the line of scrimmage,” White said. “It was great to see.”

The Benedict defense shut down Central State in the second half, holding the Marauders scoreless, while the defense scored on a pair of interception returns. Freshman Robert Cummings had a 51-yard interception return at the end of the third quarter, while Edward Kirkland stepped in front of a Lavon Meeks pass at the Benedict goal line and zig-zagged his way 100 yards the other way for a touchdown.

“That was huge for us. We needed the secondary to play better because we didn’t play well last week,” White said. “Both safeties are ballplayers and it was good to see both of them come up with good picks and really great runbacks to score on both plays.”

The Marauders, now 0-3, finished with 367 yards of total offense, just seven fewer than the Tigers, but 42 yards below their average coming into the game. Meeks completed 19-of-38 passes for 184 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions and was sacked twice by the Tigers. CSU ran for 146 yards, with De’Michael Jackson leading the way with 107 yards on 15 carries.

“I’m just glad we got a win,” White said. “We knew how well they have run the ball and how good they were offensively, and we challenged the defense to step up and make plays. I thought they were solid today. Other than a few drives, I thought we played pretty good.”

Benedict scored on its first possession of the game, a 2-yard run by Johnson after Myers gave the Tigers a first-and-goal with his 54-yard run on the first offensive play of the game.

The offense had a 54-yard drive that started at the end of the first quarter and ended 14 plays later with Brown scoring on a 3-yard bootleg run. The Marauders cut the lead to 14-6 on their ensuing possession, getting a 24-yard scoring pass from Meeks to Darian Nelson. The Tigers increased the lead to 21-6 when Brown scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak on fourth down with 4:38 left in the first half.

Benedict made it 28-6 in the third quarter on Myers’ 55-yard scoring run. On Central State’s ensuing possession, Cummings intercepted a pass from Meeks at midfield and returned it 51 yards for a score and a 35-6 lead. The Marauders were having their best sustained drive of the game in the fourth quarter, starting at their own 8-yard line and moving to the Benedict 7-yard line when Kirkland intercepted the Meeks pass at the goal-line on fourth down and followed his blockers and eluded the Central State chasers for the 100-yard interception return.

Kendrick Frazier led the Benedict defense with 14 total tackles, including a sack.

Tory Mimbs was perfect on all six PATs, and averaged 44.2 yards on five punts, including a season-best 60-yarder and two punts downed inside the 20-yard line.

“It was a good win. It was good to see us play well offensively, defensively and on special teams today. It was an overall good job,” White said.

The Tigers return home next week to face Fort Valley State at 6 p.m.