BENTON HARBOR – After losing the two previous games, the St. Joe Bears were eager and anxious to get things going again. The Bears did just that with an all around dominating performance in a 59-8 win over Benton Harbor on a windy night at Filstrup Field.
Benton Harbor made some progress on their first drive but after two first downs the drive stalled at the St. Joe 32 yard line, the Bears went to work, starting with a Cullen Hoffman 30 yard field goal to put St. Joe up 3-0 with 7: 45 left in the first quarter.
With the wind blowing, neither team was able to sustain a drive and each team intercepted an opposing pass. After St. Joe’s Sean Akins picked off quarterback Tim Bell, he went back on the field at running back and on his second play of the drive, he ran down the field for a long 59 yard touchdown to put St. Joe up 10-0.
The Bears would add two more points on Benton Harbor’s next possession. The Tigers on 4th down lined up for a punt, but a high snap sent the ball into the endzone and punter Mike Jones kicked the ball out of the back end of the endzone for safety and a 12-0 lead.
With the clock running down in the quarter, St. Joe attempted a 47 yard field goal from Cullen Hoffman, but the kick, which had the distance was wide left.
The Bears held Benton Harbor to a three and out, got the ball back.early in the 2nd quarter. After a long 30 yard run by Derek Burton gave the ball first and goal at the one yard line, quarterback Cullen Hoffman carried the ball himself for the Bear touchdown.
Now kicking into the wind, Hoffman’s ensuing kickoff seemed to hit a wall and rolled back towards the Bears which and the ball was picked up by Hunter Waning, setting up the Bears inside the Tigers 35 yard line. Six plays later Sean Akins carried the ball in to the endzone from three yards out and a 26-0 lead.
On the next Bears possession, Hoffman threw a 2 yard touchdown pass to tight end Collin Morrow for a 33-0 lead.
Benton Harbor got on the scoreboard on their next drive after Dontae Howard returned Hoffman’s kick into the wind down to the Bears 12 yard line. Two plays later Kenneth Jackson threw for a 14 yard pass to Jaton Gunn, followed by the two point conversion and the Tigers were on the board, trailing 33-8 heading to halftime.
St. Joe would get the ball to start the second half and on a 7 play drive Hoffman scored on a 19 yard quarterback sneak for a 40-8 lead.
St. Joe would get the ball back on the kickoff when Tiger return-man Martez Davis fumbled the ball and it was recovered by St. Joe’s Connor Myers at the Benton Harbor 27 yard line. Backup quarterback Griffin Beadette lead the Bears offense into the endzone 4 plays later when Derek Burton scored on a 5 yard touchdown to put the Bears up 46-8.
Benton Harbor on the next drive would gain only a yard, and on fourth down, Tiger quarterback Tim Bell fumbled the ball after a hit by freshman Trevor Dilley, which was recovered by Morrow and taken 28 yards for the touchdown. St. Joe increased the lead to 52-8.
The Bears would close out the scoring when third string quarterback Dylan Lawrence handed the ball off to running back Aaron Bogan and he found the endzone from 4 yards out. Brazilian exchange student Arthur Pinto kicked the extra point to make the final margin 59-8.
St. Joe outgained Benton Harbor 329-60 and limited Benton Harbor to just 4 first downs. The Tigers were 0 of 10 on third down.
St. Joe scored on all 7 of their red zone possessions and never punted in the game.
Elsewhere around the SMAC
- Lakeshore 21, Portage Northern 13
- Portage Central 35, Niles 13
- Mattawan 28, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix 14
- Battle Creek Central 21, Gull Lake 20
- Battle Creek Lakeview 47, Kalamazoo Central 6
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