SYCAMORE — Wynford’s Seth Benedict did more than tie his personal record for most interceptions in a game.
Offensively, Benedict caught eight passes for 104 yards and a touchdown, and one of his catches set up the Royals’ third touchdown. On defense, he intercepted three passes in Wynford’s 20-8 victory over Mohawk on Friday night at Mohawk.
“It definitely helped, for sure,” Benedict said. “We work together all week, so it was a good practice all week, so got us ready for this Friday.”
The Royals (6-3, 5-1 Northern 10 Athletic Conference) remain in a first-place tie with Seneca East with one week remaining and could get at least share the N10 title with a win next week over rival Bucyrus.
Thanks to Lucas Hackworth’s opening kickoff return to the Mohawk 44-yard line, the Royals only needed four plays to score on their opening drive, a drive that ended when quarterback Dustin Brady rolled to his right and hit a wide-open Hackworth for a score.
Brady completed 15 of 26 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Hackworth caught two passes for 48 yards and a touchdown.
Benedict got his first interception of the night on the ensuing Mohawk drive, as he picked off Mohawk quarterback Landen Snyder on second-and-9 from the 34-yard line. The Royals’ drive stalled as Brady threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-12 from the 30-yard line, giving the ball back to the Warriors (5-4, 3-3 N10).
“Seth’s a kid that we felt has a tremendous amount of talent and ability,” Wynford coach Gabe Helbert said. “I think he showed that tonight. Really, he’s shown it all year. He’s shown it throughout his career for us, and (we’re) really fortunate to have him on our football team and (he’s) a kid that he prepares himself, works extremely hard, never misses a workout, never misses anything and you can see the preparation. He was able to make some big plays tonight in a very, very important game for us.”
A 55-yard run by Jesse Leeth and a 3-yard run by Mason Danner gave the Warriors a third and goal from the 7-yard line. Snyder took the snap, rolled to his right and threw left, where it was intercepted by Hackworth. The Royals’ next drive, however, stalled.
A long punt return by Tyler Hayman gave Mohawk the ball on Wynford’s 37-yard line, and the Warriors scored on a six play, 37-yard drive as Snyder hit Tyler Hayman on a fade route in the back-right corner of the end zone.
That connection was made again, as Snyder hit an open Hayman on the left side of the end zone for the two-point conversion. Snyder completed 6 of 13 passes for 31 yards and a touchdown with four interceptions on the night. Hayman caught three passes for 31 yards.
Another Wynford interception — Benedict’s second as he snagged a throw from Snyder on a halfback fake on first and 10 from the Wynford 30-yard line — set up their next scoring drive.
“(You) can’t beat good teams with turnovers, and they’re a good team and they’re rolling right now, and we knew that,” Mohawk coach Eric Daniel said. “They just out (executed us). I always say this, and it’s cliche’, but it’s true, out executed us in key situations. I don’t know how many times we got in the red zone, a gazillion? And we only scored eight points and costly penalties back us up. Instead of first and goal on the 8 and 9 (yard line), it’s first and goal on the 15. That matters. Again, it’s a good team and they’ve got a stingy defense. You can’t afford that stuff.”
The Royals marched 95 yards on 12 plays, a drive in which Brady completed a pass on third down three times. Brady hit Benedict on a 32-yard pass for the score.
“Both teams settled in and played excellent defensively,” Helbert said. “They would not let us run the football and they were committed to stop the run. They committed guys to the box and played a lot of man coverage, and that’s where we saw some of the explosive plays in the pass game.”
Benedict caught five passes for 70 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions in the first half.
A fourth-down sack of Snyder gave the Royals a first and 10 from their own 35-yard line, and six plays later, on second and nine from the Mohawk 43-yard line, Brady fired a 26-yard pass to Benedict on the left sideline. Benedict sprinted to his right, broke a tackle and took the ball to the 17-yard line. Two plays later, Brady scored on a 1-yard touchdown run.
Having Danner take snaps in a wildcat formation proved effective for Mohawk late in the third quarter and into the fourth quarter, but two promising Mohawk drives were stalled by penalties. The Warriors were penalized eight times for 53 yards on the night.
Benedict sealed the game with 2:31 remaining with his third interception of the night.
The Royals will try to clinch at least a share of the N10 title when they host Bucyrus at 7 p.m. Friday. The Warriors will look to keep their playoff hopes alive when they travel to Upper Sandusky at 7 p.m. Friday.
Score by quarters
Wynford 7 7 6 0 — 20
Mohawk 0 8 0 0 — 8
First quarter
W — Brady 34-yard pass to Hackworth (Green kick), 9:55.
Second quarter
M — Snyder 7-yard pass to Hayman (Snyder pass), 11:53.
W — Brady 32-yard pass to Benedict (Green kick), 3:54.
Third quarter
W — Benedict 1-yard run (pass failed) 2:13.
Individual statistics
Passing
Wynford: Brady 15-26 206.
Mohawk: Snyder 6-13, 31.
Rushing
Wynford: Taylor 10-57, Brady 9-13, Benedict 1-3, Blair 4-6, Skidmore 1-(minus 6).
Mohawk: Leeth 13-83, Danner 11-41, Snyder 16-28.
Receiving
Wynford: Benedict 8-104, Filliator 1-6, Blair 2-22, Hackworth 2-48, Taylor 1-4, Imbody 1-21.
Mohawk: Hayman 3-13, Leeth 1-1, Williams 2-10.
Team statistics
W M
First downs 16 13
Yards rushing 73 152
Yards passing 206 31
Passes 15-26-1 6-13-4
Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0
Punts 3-37.5 1-25.0
Penalties 7-60 8-53