A second half rally allowed the St Benedict Bears to avoid a loss that might have torpedoed their playoff aspirations, overcoming a 13-12 deficit at the half in recording a 44-19 win over the St Charles College Cardinals in the only SDSSAA senior boys football game played last week.

The Bears looked in no danger of defeat early on, marching the field on the strength of runs by both Lukas Coufal and Dylan Nelson, typically behind the force that is offensive lineman Will Elliott and capping things off with a two yard quarterback sneak from Phoenix Marks.

St Benedict added a second unconverted touchdown in quarter two when Marks found Coufal open in the flats, the latter doing the bulk of the work in weaving his way in from 18 yards out.

With time winding down in the opening half, the Cards struck quickly - twice in just over a minute, to be exact.

A nice kickoff return from Daine Kutchaw-Taylor gave SCC reasonable field position, which they exploited via the ground game as David Idehen, Great Origbo and QB Hayden Walsh helped move the chains.

With first and goal from the five, St Charles opted for the unconventional, allowing lineman Nicholas Shakes to bulldoze his way home, cutting the margin to 12-6.

A quick three and out followed by a 20 yard punt return from Idehen had SCC starting a drive at the Bears'35 yard line, taking just two plays to convert (six yard run from Great Origbo and 29 yard TD run from David Idehen), with Braxton Ragogna splitting the uprights this time around.

The bulk of the second half scoring came in quarter four as the score remained the same until Dylan Nelson darted in from the 15, adding a two point conversion to bring it to 20-13.

Nelson would add two more majors, joined on the scoresheet by Lukas Coufal (his second TD) and Mateo Bedoya (FG + 3 PATs) with Braxton Ragogna closing things off for St Charles with a touchdown of his own.

Deadlocked with the Lasalle Lancers at 2-2, St Benedict faces another key test to close out regular season play this Friday as the late game at James Jerome (7:30 p.m.) features a matchup with the Lively Hawks (1-3).

Should Lively beat St Benedict and the undefeated Lo-Ellen Park Knights (3-0-1) get past Lasalle in the opening affair at 3:00 p.m., the stage is set for tie-breakers to decide the three-way tie for the final two playoff spots in third and fourth.

The 5:15 encounter as the Confederation Chargers (3-0-1) meeting uo with the winless St Charles College Cardinals (0-4).