College football: Statesmen bounce back

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OSKALOOSA — How would the William Penn football team respond to its first setback of the season?

It took just 16 seconds to find out.

Christian Benning aired out a long pass on the first play of Saturday's game against Missouri Baptist, finding Keithon Davis down the far sidelines of Community Stadium for a 68-yard touchdown. The throw sparked the 19th-ranked Statesmen to a 41-10 Family Weekend win over the Spartans, bouncing back quickly from a 40-7 loss at Benedictine one week earlier.

"We knew the play call, the script and we knew it could hit if we got the look that we got," Benning said. "We got it and we completed it. It just makes you want to keep going to get more points. Offense played great. Receivers played great. The offensive line played great. Everyone executed."

The catch ignited a career day for Davis, who surpassed 100 yards receiving for the first time last weekend at Benedictine catching six passes for 125 yards and the long touchdown for the Statesmen. The sophomore receiver hauled in three more passes on Saturday after the game-opening 68-yard touchdown pass, finishing with 154 receiving yards including a 21-yard catch late in the first quarter that set up Kendrick Canon's 17-yard touchdown reception giving William Penn a 14-7 lead.

"When I hear my name called, I just try to go out and make the play," Davis said. "My quarterback trusts me, so I just went out there and did it.

"We came ready to play. We came for business."

Benning, meanwhile, produced his best day of the season as William Penn's quarterback completing 13 of 22 passes for 254 yards. The sophomore signal caller found Canon twice in the first half, completing a six-yard touchdown pass with 10:38 left in the first half giving the Statesmen a 21-7 lead.

"We've got a great receiving corp and a great group of running backs. Hitting a touchdown like that on the first play gives you that confidence that we can keep going," Benning said. "It felt like we could put however many points we wanted to."

The Statesmen racked up over 400 yards of total offense for the first time this season, including a season-high 310 total yards passing. Emery Floyd helped close out William Penn's seventh straight home win, completing two of three passes for 56 yards including a 25-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to Anthony Carey, Jr.

"Whenever you score right off the bat like we did, it forces the other team to play from behind the entire game," William Penn head football coach Marc Benavidez said. "Our guys executed perfectly. We finally had a day where several of our guys had some things click together."

Floyd also used his legs to gain 25 yards on six carries, including a one-yard touchdown that gave the Statesmen a 27-10 halftime lead. Floyd's mobility led to the most exciting play of the second half as the graduate transfer from East Texas A&M escaped a pair of Spartan defenders, rolling away from a potential sack before finding former Moravia standout Shane Helmick on a 32-yard pass that set up the 24-yard touchdown pass to Jones, Jr.

"Emory made a great play. I honestly thought he was down and all of sudden, I saw him pop back up," Helmick said. "I just knew I had to go help my quarterback out. He found me down the field and I just tried to do the rest."

William Penn's defense stepped up to shutout Missouri Baptist (1-2) in the second half highlighted by key interceptions from Jeremiah Dennard and Chidozie Mogbo, Jr. The Statesmen closed out the game with a 25-yard touchdown run late in the game by Carey, Jr.

"It was a big team win," Benavidez said. "We've played some really tough opponents. We kind of told our guys when the season began that the first three games would be a gauntlet. We definitely still have some things to fix and clean up if we want to continue winning games. We've also got some injuries to overcome, but hopefully we're in a spot to peak when it really matters in October and November."

William Penn begins a stretch of three consecutive road games over a span of four weeks. The Statesmen head to Missouri to face Central Methodist this Saturday at 1 p.m.

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