COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Benedict College Tigers face the obstacles of a short week of preparation and the longest road trip of the season when they travel to Ohio to face the Central State Marauders on Saturday.
Benedict, 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the SIAC, will look to win its third game in a row against Central State (2-2 overall, 1-1 SIAC). The Marauders are coming off a big 24-6 victory over rival Kentucky State last week as they rushed for 226 yards in that game. Kickoff is 1 p.m. from Doug Adams Stadium in Xenia, Ohio. The game will be streamed by Central State
here, with live stats available
here.
Fresh off a tough 28-20 victory over Fort Valley State on Sunday afternoon, the Tigers took their normal day off on Monday and had a lackluster practice on Tuesday with many starters missing the practice to recuperate. After more practices on Wednesday and Thursday, the team loaded a bus in the early hours Friday morning for the long trip to Ohio.
"You could tell the guys were dragging on Tuesday, and they got to feeling a little bit better on Wednesday," Benedict head coach
Mike White said. "Then we've got to turn around Thursday night and take that long ride. It's something you have to deal with. We knew it was coming. We've just got to handle it. I just didn't expect the day that we missed of rest would affect us this way. The overall life of the team right now is not where it should be."
The task for the Tigers this week is to slow down the running juggernaut of the Marauders. Central State is averaging 101.8 yards per game on the ground. The Marauders also threw for nearly 300 yards in their loss to Morehouse.
Stopping the run is the strength of the Benedict defense. The Tigers come into the game ranked fourth in Division II in run defense, allowing just 54.7 yards per game. And that is after giving up a season-high 100 yards last week against Fort Valley State.
"They are a very physical team," White said of the Marauders. "They run the ball well and they can throw it. But they definitely want to run the ball at us. They were probably the most effective team last year running the ball on us. They broke quite a few runs on us last year. We'll have our work cut out with that."
In last year's meeting with Central State, the Marauders rushed for 156 yards against Benedict, the most the Tigers gave up in any game last season.
"The defensive line has played well and they're ready for the game this week," White said. "We'll have to come out and play well to stop this team. Coach Pearl at Central does a great job each year any time you play against him. They run the ball and the scheme they have is very effective. If you don't come to play, they're going to push you around. Our defense is expecting a physical matchup. That's what is going to be the determining factor, which team can be more physical than the other."
The Tigers are hoping to ramp up their running game as well. With quarterback
Dominique Harris completing nearly 64 percent of his passes for 210 yards per game, the Tigers have relied more heavily on the passing game so far this season. Benedict averages 115 yards per game on the ground with the workload shared among several backs.
Raheem Jennings leads the team with 33.3 yards per game and
Trini Charlton averaging 29 yards per game.
"We're still sputtering offensively in terms of running the ball," White said. "I'm a little disappointed in that. When we need to run the ball it seems we can't be consistent with that right now."