DE PERE - St. Norbert College closed out the regular season with a dominating 24-0 win over Bendictine University in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference game at Schneider Stadium.
The Green Knights (7-3, 6-2 NACC) finished in a second-place tie in the NACC with Concordia University Wisconsin, which St. Norbert beat 13-7 in overtime on Oct. 21. St. Norbert is anticipating receiving an invitation to its first-ever bowl game appearance, which should be announced around 5 p.m. Sunday.
St. Norbert used a patient offense and a swarming defense to slowly put away the Eagles (5-4, 5-3). The Green Knights took the opening kickoff and marched 69 yards in 13 plays before settling on a 22-yard field goal by
Dalton Moyse with 8:51 left in the opening quarter. Benedictine had two three-and-out possessions sandwiched around one for St. Norbert before the Green Knights again went on the move.
Starting at midfield, the Green Knights had a first-and-goal at the Benedictine 4 before a procedure penalty moved them to the 9. St. Norbert reached the 1 for a third-down try and was stopped.
Delton Zuleger then broke into the end zone on the second play of the second quarter for a 10-0 lead with 14:24 left in the half.
St. Norbert stopped Benedictine on two more three-and-outs before the Eagles reached the St. Norbert 43 on their third second-quarter possession, but a fourth-down stop gave St. Norbert the ball back. The Green Knights effectively ran out the half with a 10-0 lead.
Benedictine open the third quarter and advanced to the St. Norbert 23, but a big
Justin Benoit quarterback sack forced a punt. St. Norbert was pinned at its own 6 but
Mason Levake helped get the Green Knights out of the hole with a booming 51-yard punt the Benedictine 34. The Eagles would be on the move again, eventually reaching the St. Norbert 1 with a first-and-goal situation. After a one-yard loss, Nathan Rillo's pass was intercepted in the end zone by
Marc Thomas to preserve the 10-0 lead.
St. Norbert needed just eight plays to navigate 80 yards and score on
Owen Kudick's 5-yard run with 14:22 to go. The Green Knights recorded another takeaway when
Sam Barnett's interception at the St. Norbert 15 halted the Eagles' last gap.
Kyle Santos added another interception deep in Benedictine territory to set up a Zuleger 3-yard run with 5:56 remaining for the game's final points. On the next possession,
Ricardo Aguado recorded an interception for the fourth-straight pick for the Green Knights.
St. Norbert outgained Benedictine 319-224. Kudick rushed for 81 yards on 16 carries and one touchdown, while Zuleger had 77 rushing yards on 23 carries and two scores.
Peyton Lyon completed 15 of 21 passes for 163 yards.
Mitch Van Vooren caught six passes for 101 yards.
Evan Wydajewski completed 10 of 23 passes for 137 yards to lead Benedictine. Rillo was the Eagles' leading rusher with 29 yards on four carries.
Santos finished with a game-high nine tackles for St. Norbert. Benoit totaled 3 1/2 tackles-for-loss with a quarterback sack.
Oliver Sgrignuoli added two tackles-for-loss.
