COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Benedict College Tigers wrapped up the 2021 season with a thrilling 34-30 victory over Lane College on Saturday in Charlie W. Johnson Stadium, in a game that wasn't decided until Keeven Ross broke up a Lane pass in the end zone with three seconds left.

"To God be the glory. It was just an awesome, hard-fought victory. I'm so proud of the coaches and so proud of the players," said Benedict head coach Chennis Berry, who saw his Tigers go 5-5 in his first full season as head coach.

The Tigers jumped out to an early 14-0 lead, only to see Lane rally back to take a 24-17 lead. The Tigers stormed back to score the next 17 points for a 34-24 lead, only to see Lane run a kickoff back for a touchdown to make it 34-30, then saw Lane drive and threaten and take a last-ditch shot at the end zone that Ross broke up.

"That was a true testament of being resilient," Berry said. "We start up 14-0 and they come back. It was a see-saw battle the whole game. A lot of things happened in that game, but our guys really persevered. This is going to be able to take us to the off-season. We've been talking about culture shift. It takes time to build a program. For us to be able to come in year one, taking over for a team that went 1-9, and go .500, we've got a lot to build on. There's obviously some things we've got to clean up and get better at, but there's some things we feel very proud of. I was proud of our young guys fighting for our seniors, to be able to send them out. We started the season off 2-0 and we ended the season 2-0. I'm super excited about all of this as we continue to move forward and build this program."

Benedict scored on their first two possessions of the game, getting a short 1-yard touchdown run by Jayden McCloud on their first drive, then Eric Phoenix connected with McCloud for a 14-yard passing touchdown.

The Tigers had a first-and-goal from the Lane 3-yard line on their third possession, but weren't able to get the ball into the end zone and settled for a 25-yard field goal by Rigoberto Tinoco, one of 11 seniors recognized at halftime. That gave Benedict a 17-7 lead early in the second quarter.

The Dragons tacked on a field goal late in the first half to cut the lead to 17-10 at the half.

Lane tied the game 17-17 early in the third quarter after taking the opening kickoff 74 yards on 10 plays, scoring on a 25-yard pass. The Dragons took a 24-27 lead on a 26-yard run with 3:57 left in the third.

The Tigers took the ensuing kickoff and drove 80 yards on just five plays. Phoenix connected to Jayden Thomas on a pair of 20-yard pass plays during that drive. Omarion Coleman finished the drive with a 13-yard run to tie the game at 24 with 2:32 left in the third quarter. Phoenix finished the game completing 27-of-35 passes for 334 yards and one touchdown and one interception. His favorite target was Thomas, who caught seven passes for 117 yards, the third Benedict receiver to go over 100 yards this season.

Benedict had a first-and-goal at the 4-yard line, but again could not capitalize, and Tinoco kicked a 22-yard field goal to give Benedict a 27-24 lead. On the ensuing kickoff, the Dragons fumbled the ball and Benedict took over at the Lane 14-yard line. Coleman ran it in on the first play to put the Tigers ahead 34-24 with 8:20 left in the game.

The Dragons ran the ensuing kickoff back 92 yards for a touchdown, but then missed the extra point to close the gap to 34-30 with 7:58 left.

After a Benedict punt, the Dragons took over at the Benedict 20 with 2:56 left in the game. Lane completed a 40-yard pass on third-and-10, then had a 13-yard run to get to the Benedict 17-yard line. On fourth down, Lane quarterback took a shot at the end zone, but Ross broke up the pass.

"We feel like we've got some really good corners in Keeven Ross and Joshua Heyward," Berry said. "Keeven Ross did a heck of a job. He was in great position and he actually caused offensive pass interference. All we ask our guys to do is do their job. And on that play, all 11 on defense found a way to do their job. We did a lot of bending today, but we didn't break."

Berry is already looking forward to the future and how this strong finish, winning the last two games of the season, will help bring a winning attitude to the football program.

"When you're taking over a 1-9 program, it's tough. You're trying to change the mindset, to get kids to believe. Usually, when adversity strikes sometimes, they don't believe. As we finished, and as the band played 'I'm a believer', our team believed. And we really believe now going forward that we have something special to build on going into the future."