MO. Valley Edges Benedictine in 3 Overtime Thriller

The 2007 football season got off to an interesting start as it took three overtimes for the No. 3-ranked Missouri Valley Vikings to edge the No. 19-ranked Ravens in Raven Stadium Saturday. The Vikings scored 13 points in the three overtimes, the final six of which came on the legs of Vikings running back Robert Holmes, who carried the ball four times for 25 yards and a touchdown in their third overtime possession. No point after was needed as the Vikings outlasted the Ravens 33-27. The Vikings got the game started offensively when Adam Mares hit Michael Wilder for a 35-yard touchdown pass. Trailing 7-0 the Ravens answered during the first quarter when Jesse Thomas (Jr., Kansas City, Mo.) rushed in from 17 yards out. The Ravens scored six points in the second quarter all of which came off the leg of kicker Jordan Banion (Sr., Kansas City, Mo.) Banion connected on two 37-yard field goals for the Ravens to give Benedictine a 13-7 edge at the half. Neither team found the end zone during the third quarter as the Vikings chewed up nearly the entire quarter with one drive. That drive ended in the fourth quarter when Mares hit John Brinley on a six-yard touchdown pass. The Vikings regained the lead minutes later in the fourth quarter when they converted a 29-yard field goal off the leg of Joe Park. With just under two minutes left in the game, the Ravens took to the air. They capitalized on a 3 play, 57-yard drive when quarterback Ryan Kelly (RFr., Topeka) hit receiver Jake Mohr (Soph., Bennington, Neb.) on a 33-yard touchdown pass. The Vikings were then able to drive the field to get within field goal distance. Park connected on a 45-yard field goal with eight seconds left in the game to tie things up a 20-20. In overtime, the Ravens struck first when Kelly hit Conor Walsh (Sr., St. Louis) on a 16-yard touchdown pass. Missouri Valley responded in their first overtime possession when Mares hit Moamoa Palepale on a 23-yard pass. Neither team scored in the second overtime and the Vikings defense stepped up on the Ravens possession in the third overtime before sealing the game on Holmes 4-yard touchdown run. Kelly finished with 205 yards on 15 completions while rushing for nine yards. Thomas was the Ravens leading rusher with 48 yards on 12 carries. Mohr led the Ravens in receiving with two catches for 50 yards while Walsh added four catches for 45 yards. Defensively the Ravens were led by linebacker Chris Kline (Jr., St. Louis) with 17 tackles. Linebacker Dema Preobrazhensky added 13 tackles, one sack for a loss of eight yards and one forced fumble. The Ravens hit the road next week when they travel to Olathe for a 1 p.m. kickoff against MidAmerica Nazarene University.