T.J. Benners hauled in three touchdowns to lead West Virginia Wesleyan to a 28-23 victory over Bentley on Saturday.
Benners finished the day with nine catches for 81 yards. Adam Neugebauer tallied 340 yards on 36-of-50 passing with four touchdown passes and one interception. Jon Meadows grabbed eight passes for 75 yards. Ottis Scott led the Wesleyan defense with eight tackles and Jonas Celian added two sacks.
Bentley quarterback Bryant Johnson completed 23-of-43 passes for 250 with three touchdowns and one interception. Wade Critides was Johnson's favorite target pulling in eight passes for 77 yards. Anthony Carter racked up 12 tackles to lead the Falcons defense.
The Falcons took the opening kickoff into West Virginia Wesleyan territory and Johnson was able to find Dan Alberico four plays later to put Bentley in front 7-0. The Bobcats answered back later in the first when Neugebauer found Benners from 13 yards out to knot the game at 7-7. Following a missed Wesleyan field goal, the Falcons drove 53 yards and Will Lockwood drilled a 44 yarder to put Bentley back in front 10-7. Neugebauer and Benners would hook up again late in the first half this time from 19 yards out as WVWC took their first lead at 14-10 into the locker room.
The Bobcats dominated the first half statistically running 44 plays and gaining 255 yards while limiting Bentley to just 116 yards on 28 plays.
The second half started with the Bobcats fumbling the kickoff but the defense stepped up and held the Falcons to a field goal attempt which was blocked by Stephen Knox. Wesleyan was able to convert the block into a touchdown when found Brandon Hoffman to extend the Bobcat advantage to 21-10. Following another kick return into Bobcat territory Johnson tossed his second touchdown of the day to Bart Stires from 17 yards out. The Bobcats answered back with a nine play drive that culminated in Neugebauer connecting with Benners for the third time to make it 28-17.
In the fourth quarter Johnson hooked up with Mike Sumerill and after a failed two-point attempt made the score 28-23 with less than two minutes to play. Bentley recovered the initial onside attempt but was flagged for being offside and the second attempt was flagged for an illegal touch before the ball went 10 yards. The Bobcats were able to run out the clock to come away with the 28-23 victory.
West Virginia Wesleyan welcomes West Liberty to the friendly confines of Ross Field next Saturday at 1 p.m. It's Family Day and fans are reminded it's an Orange Out so wear your orange and come out and support the Bobcats.
Check out a great article in the Boston Globe on Coach Jackson's homecoming.Here
