Mount St. Joseph beats Edmondson in mistake filled game

Junior athlete Sam Benjamin did a little of everything for Mount St. Joseph on Saturday night in a 28-2 victory over Edmondson at Poly’s Lumsden-Scott Stadium.

Benjamin is listed as a quarterback, wide receiver and defensive back on the Gaels’ roster and he lived up to all of those positions.

The junior carried the ball 15 times for 83 yards and a touchdown.  He also completed three of his six pass attempts and caught a 73-yard touchdown pass from starting quarterback Craig Costible.

“I just try to contribute to the offense as much as I can,” said Benjamin.  “[On the touchdown catch] the ball wasn’t even intended for me but the ball was in range so I caught it and just turned up and made a big play.”

Edmondson’s night could not have gone any worse.  The Red Storm (1-1) was held to just 10 yards of total offense. They recorded too many mistakes and did not taking advantage of Mount St. Joseph’s miscues.

The Gaels (2-0) got the scoring starting late in the first quarter when Costible threw a 85-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Angelo Deshields. Deshield broke a tackle and went down the sidelines for the score. The game was never in doubt beyond that point.

But despite the win, Mount St. Joseph was far from perfect. The Gaels turned the ball over six times (safety, interception, lost fumble) including three on downs.

On the opening drive of the game, Benjamin fumbled on their own 32-yard line, giving the Red Storm a chance to score first.  Luckily for the Gaels, Edmondson’s sophomore quarterback Quantaye Battle was picked off by Dwayne Brown in the end zone.

Later in the first, Mount St. Joseph allowed a safety on a bad snap through the end zone from it’s own five-yard line. There was also a touchdown on a long punt return by Devonte Jones that was called back because of a block in the back.

“I think [the game] was sloppy at first,” said Henry.  “We’ve got a lot of new guys out there but they are excited to be out here.  They play with a passion which sometimes hurts us because they are all over the place but we got it together in the second half.”

Both teams will have to clean up the mistakes before they embark in their respective league games.

“We’ve got to get better with our reads at the quarterback position, both of them, catching the ball with our receivers and blocking.  We just need to cut down on the menatal mistakes,” said Henry. “When you get into October, you’ve got to be sharp.”