OSKALOOSA — How would the William Penn soccer crew reply to its first setback of the season?
It took simply 16 seconds to seek out out.
Christian Benning aired out an extended move on the primary play of Saturday's recreation towards Missouri Baptist, discovering Keithon Davis down the far sidelines of Neighborhood Stadium for a 68-yard landing. The throw sparked the Nineteenth-ranked Statesmen to a 41-10 Household Weekend win over the Spartans, bouncing again rapidly from a 40-7 loss at Benedictine one week earlier.
"We knew the play name, the script and we knew it might hit if we bought the look that we bought," Benning mentioned. "We bought it and we accomplished it. It simply makes you wish to preserve going to get extra factors. Offense performed nice. Receivers performed nice. The offensive line performed nice. Everybody executed."
The catch ignited a profession day for Davis, who surpassed 100 yards receiving for the primary time final weekend at Benedictine catching six passes for 125 yards and the lengthy landing for the Statesmen. The sophomore receiver hauled in three extra passes on Saturday after the game-opening 68-yard landing move, ending with 154 receiving yards together with a 21-yard catch late within the first quarter that arrange Kendrick Canon's 17-yard landing reception giving William Penn a 14-7 lead.
"Once I hear my identify referred to as, I simply attempt to exit and make the play," Davis mentioned. "My quarterback trusts me, so I simply went on the market and did it.
"We got here able to play. We got here for enterprise."
Benning, in the meantime, produced his greatest day of the season as William Penn's quarterback finishing 13 of twenty-two passes for 254 yards. The sophomore sign caller discovered Canon twice within the first half, finishing a six-yard landing move with 10:38 left within the first half giving the Statesmen a 21-7 lead.
"We've bought an ideal receiving corp and an ideal group of working backs. Hitting a landing like that on the primary play offers you that confidence that we are able to preserve going," Benning mentioned. "It felt like we might put nonetheless many factors we needed to."
The Statesmen racked up over 400 yards of complete offense for the primary time this season, together with a season-high 310 complete yards passing. Emery Floyd helped shut out William Penn's seventh straight residence win, finishing two of three passes for 56 yards together with a 25-yard landing move within the fourth quarter to Anthony Carey, Jr.
"Everytime you rating proper off the bat like we did, it forces the opposite crew to play from behind your complete recreation," William Penn head soccer coach Marc Benavidez mentioned. "Our guys executed completely. We lastly had a day the place a number of of our guys had some issues click on collectively."
Floyd additionally used his legs to realize 25 yards on six carries, together with a one-yard landing that gave the Statesmen a 27-10 halftime lead. Floyd's mobility led to essentially the most thrilling play of the second half because the graduate switch from East Texas A&M escaped a pair of Spartan defenders, rolling away from a possible sack earlier than discovering former Moravia standout Shane Helmick on a 32-yard move that arrange the 24-yard landing move to Jones, Jr.
"Emory made an ideal play. I truthfully thought he was down and , I noticed him pop again up," Helmick mentioned. "I simply knew I needed to go assist my quarterback out. He discovered me down the sphere and I simply tried to do the remaining."
William Penn's protection stepped as much as shutout Missouri Baptist (1-2) within the second half highlighted by key interceptions from Jeremiah Dennard and Chidozie Mogbo, Jr. The Statesmen closed out the sport with a 25-yard landing run late within the recreation by Carey, Jr.
"It was a giant crew win," Benavidez mentioned. "We've performed some actually robust opponents. We sort of advised our guys when the season started that the primary three video games could be a gauntlet. We undoubtedly nonetheless have some issues to repair and clear up if we wish to proceed successful video games. We've additionally bought some accidents to beat, however hopefully we're in a spot to peak when it actually issues in October and November."
William Penn begins a stretch of three consecutive street video games over a span of 4 weeks. The Statesmen head to Missouri to face Central Methodist this Saturday at 1 p.m.