Poor Start, Interceptions Doom William Penn in First Loss

Atchison, Kan.--The Statesmen football team was unable to overcome turnovers as well as big plays in a 45-27 loss to #19 Benedictine in a Heart of America Athletic Conference North-South crossover game Saturday.

WPU (1-1) was outgained just 480-439, but committed five turnovers (all interceptions).  The navy and gold did almost all of their damage through the air with 399 passing yards; they only attempted 16 rushes for 40 yards.

The visitors unfortunately had the worst conceivable start possible, falling behind 14-0 after only 32 seconds of play as the Ravens (2-0) scored on a kickoff return touchdown and an interception returned for another score.

The Statesmen settled down, keeping the home squad off the board for the remainder of the quarter.  Unfortunately, WPU failed to have any success offensively, while the Ravens struck twice more early in the second to double its advantage to 28-0.

William Penn finally got on the scoreboard midway through the second stanza as Sterling Ramsey II (Jr., Broken Arrow, Okla., Business Management) hooked up with Lukas Hamilton (Sr., Columbus, Ohio, Secondary Education) from six yards out, capping an eight-play, 75-yard drive.  Ramsey had an uneven day, completing 12 of his 29 passes for 267 yards.  He tossed a trio of touchdowns, but was also picked off three times.

Hamilton's day included five catches for 64 yards.

The Ravens answered with a field goal with only 1:02 left until the break, but WPU went into the locker room with momentum as Keithon Davis (Fr., McKinney, Texas, Business Management) pulled in a pass from Ramsey and took it 74 yards to the house to make the score a respectable 31-13 at halftime.  It was Davis' lone catch of the day.

The Statesmen would not get any closer in the second half, however, as they exchanged touchdowns with Benedictine.

BC scored the initial TD in the third, while Ramsey found Kaylon Bursey (Fr., Edwardsville, Ill., Business Management) for a 59-yard passing touchdown.  Like Davis, Bursey had just the one big touchdown reception Saturday.

Connor Neville (Jr., Beaverton, Ore., Business Management) eventually replaced Ramsey and concluded the afternoon's scoring with a six-yard touchdown pass to Alexander Price (Jr., McKinney, Texas, Sports Management).  Neville finished 11-for-20 for 132 yards and one touchdown.  He was intercepted twice as well.

Ten different receivers hauled in a ball with Amir Everett (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn., Sports Management) topping the visiting squad with six catches for 102 yards.

Defensively, Shawn White (Jr., Texarkana, Texas, Civil Engineering), Donavin Brewer (Jr., Marion, Ark., Business Management), and Howard Huerta (Sr., Panorama City, Calif., Business Management) tallied eight tackles apiece.  Malcolm Bryant (Sr., Cincinnati, Ohio, Sports Management) had a solo quarterback sack, while Lloydarius Garner (Jr., Houston, Texas, Sports Management) and Christian Watts (Fr., Dallas, Texas, Business Management) shared another.

Mason Ford (Sr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Business Management) was effective in his punting duties with four kicks averaging 42.0 yards (long of 53 yards, one inside the visiting 20-yard line).

"We put ourselves in too big of a hole early," Head Coach Marc Benavidez said.  "I am proud of our guys for competing until the end, though.  Unfortunately, we made too many mistakes to win."

Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa next Saturday to host #17 Baker in a Heart North-South crossover game at 11:30 a.m.