Vying for the first football national championship in school history the Benedictine Raven football team fell just short of bringing the title back home to Atchison Saturday evening falling to Morningside in the title game 35-28 in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The Ravens jumped out to a 7-0 lead on the opening possession of the game as senior quarterback Shaefer Shuetz connected with senior receiver Aaron Jackson from 26 yards out for Jackson’s 19th touchdown of the season.

Morningside answered with back-to-back scoring drives to lead 14-7, but Benedictine tied the contest up at 14 on a Marquis Stewart 3-yard run near the end of the first quarter.

Raven kicker Jacob Young would then connect on two field goals in the second quarter while the BC defense held Morningside scoreless giving Benedictine a 20-14 lead at the half.

The Mustangs responded though with back-to-back scoring drives to begin the third quarter to take the lead back at 28-20.

Benedictine came back two drives later and were able to tie the game as Frank Trent ran it in from a yard out for a score while Schuetz connected with tight end Alex Blake to tie the game up at 28 with 5:49 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Raven defense then forced a three-and-out, but BC’s offense couldn’t do anything and were forced to punt the ball right back.

Unfortunately for the Ravens this was where the game was lost, as a bad snap on the punt attempt gave the Mustangs the ball inside the Ravens 30 yard line with under two minutes left.

Morningside would score two plays later and stopped Benedictine on downs on their ensuing drive to end the game.

Marquis Stewart had a big day on the ground for the Ravens with 168 rushing yards and a touchdown, while Aaron Jackson led the Ravens through the air with 108 receiving yards and a score.

Benedictine ends the year with a record of 13-2 while capturing a Heart of America Athletic Conference regular season title and a runner-up finish in the NAIA Football Championship Series.