Benedictine Ravens football falls in NAIA semifinal heartbreaker at West Palm Beach

The Benedictine Ravens were seven-plus minutes from playing for the NAIA football championship.

Instead, the ninth-seeded team from Atchison, Kansas squandered a 17-point lead down the stretch and fell 42-38 to the top-seeded Keiser Seahawks in the semifinals of the national tournament on Saturday in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Keiser scored 28 points in the fourth quarter, and Seahawks quarterback Shea Spencer had a monster game: He completed 26 of 39 passes for 412 yards and four touchdowns while also running for 72 yards on 10 carries.

Before fading late, the Ravens’ defense put its stamp on the game in the opening half against the defending national champion Seahawks (12-0). Benedictine (11-3) forced a turnover on downs, recovered a fumble for a touchdown and intercepted a Spencer pass — all before halftime.

Benedictine was also able to put points on the board in its first two drives — courtesy of two Harry Balke field goals — before punting on three straight possessions. It was 6-0 Ravens at that point, but the Seahawks subsequently scored twice to take a 14-6 lead.

The Ravens got their opening touchdown on a muffed punt attempt by Keiser. The ball was fumbled and Kort Mattison was there for the recovery in the end zone. His heads-up play made it 14-14 at halftime.

Jackson Dooley found Jacob Gathright for a 38-yard touchdown in the third quarter, then scored again on a keeper. Balke drilled his third field goal of the afternoon, Xavier Ugorji rushed for a 54-yard TD and the Ravens led 38-21 with 7:38 to play.

But the Seahawks weren’t done yet. They scored twice — on TD passes by Spencer — to trim Benedictine’s lead to three points, 38-35. Then Spencer fired the go-ahead 25-yard TD pass to Elisha Edwards with 21 seconds left.

With no timeouts remaining, the Ravens got to the hosts’ 15-yard line, but no closer.

Benedictine’s Dooley, the junior QB from Lawrence, finished the day 13 of 30 for 194 yards. Ugorji, a junior running back from Menifee, California, rushed for 109 yards on 12 carries and caught a pass for 13 yards.

Spencer’s performance paced Keiser to 563 yards of total offense to Benedictine’s 373. The Ravens did outgain the Seahawks on the ground, rushing for 179 yards to 142 for Keiser.

A week ago, the Ravens advanced to the semifinal round of the NAIA tourney with a road win against Indiana Wesleyan.

Saturday’s other semifinal featured a pair of Iowa teams — host Grand View beat Morningside 36-19. Grand View plays Keiser for the national championship next Saturday, Dec. 21 at Durham County Memorial Stadium in Durham, North Carolina.