Pride fall 48-10 to No. 3 Benedictine
DUBUQUE, Iowa - Hosting their second-straight NAIA Top 25 team in as many weeks, the Clarke University football team was unable to produce many highlights in a 48-10 loss to No. 3 Benedcitine College on Saturday afternoon at Dalzell Field.
Seemingly before the blink of an eye, the Ravens showed their mettle after BC's Isaiah Hasten picked off CU quarterback Carson Estrada on a third and 10 to give Benedictine an early short field, where it would just take their offense two plays to put their first touchdown on the board when quarterback Jackson Dooley hit Joseph Lagafuaina for a 13-yard strike to make it 7-0 in under three minutes.
The next Pride offensive drive would see Clarke pickup a pair of first downs before stalling out in Raven territory before running back/punter Gustav Nordberg-Risto would pin Benedictine deep in their own territory with the first of his three punts ending inside the BC 20 yard line, putting the Ravens at their own 13 to start their next drive.
Nordberg-Risto had a busy day, finishing with seven punts for his best home punting average of 33.9 yards per punt, as the junior from Stockholm, Sweden native would also run the ball five times and punch in the Pride's lone touchdown late in the fourth quarter to get to the 10-point total for Clarke.
Dooley would have a big day for Benedictine, passing for 422 yards and five touchdowns as the big play was vital to their success, completing seven passes that went for over 20 yards, including four of his five touchdown strikes, the longest of which went for 82 yards to tight end Tanner Zimmerman, who finished with just three catches but for 155 receiving yards.
Clarke picked off Dooley early in the second quarter after cutting the game to 21-3 at the time after a Steele Fredricks career-long 40-yard field goal when Jordan Summage tipped a pass beyond the intended receiver for Camden Schoor to dive and catch the ball before it hit the turf right around midfield, but the Pride couldn't take advantage of the turnover with points.
CU would make a quarterback change at the halftime break, giving senior transfer Mike Reese his first action in navy and gold where he would finish 13-of-16 for 75 yards passing while adding five rushes for 19 yards after Estrada finished the first half 12-of-27 for 106 yards and the early interception.
As valuable as the big play was for the Ravens, Clarke lacked the big strike, finishing with only one play that went for longer than 20 yards in a 33-yard pass and catch from Estrada to Riley Hawkins in the first quarter in what would be the Pride's scoring drive that lead to the Fredricks field goal.
In the three games prior, CU had at least five such explosive plays that would go for at least over 20 yards on offense along with two special teams touchdowns in the previous two weeks with no returns for Clarke being longer than 23 yards on Saturday.
Clarke football will play their next two games on the road before hitting the bye, first when they travel to Lamoni, Iowa on Saturday Sept. 27 for a scheduled 1:00 p.m. CT kickoff between the Pride and the Yellowjackets of Graceland University.