ROCKFORD, Ill. - The Rockford University football team concluded its two game home stand on Saturday against the Benedictine University Eagles. Benedictine entered the game with a 3-2 overall record and a 1-1 NACC record while Rockford came in still searching for its first win of the season. However today was not the day as the Regents turned the ball over four times including once on downs and lost by a final score of 30-13.
It was a defensive battle for much of the afternoon as neither offense was able to get in much of a rhythm. The first seven possessions resulted in five punts, a turnover on downs by Benedictine and Rockford interception.
Benedictine broke the scoreless tie early in second quarter after being set up with excellent field position at the Rockford 28-yard line following a good punt return and face mask penalty. The Eagles scored four plays later on a 2-yard touchdown run to take a 7-0 lead.
The Regents offense answered right back on its very next possession with a scoring drive of its own. Rockford went 69 yards in 7 plays for its first score of the day. The drive consisted of six runs and just one pass, but the one pass was the key play on the drive when quarterback Andrew Stochl (Fox Lake, Ill./Marian Central Catholic) connected on a 41-yard completion to Delroy Russell Jr. (Richmond, Calif./Albany) putting the ball at the 12-yard line. Four plays later Seth Swinehard capped off the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run, his second of the season. The extra point was blocked so Benedictine retained the lead 7-6.
Both teams were able to put a drive together late in the half with the opportunity to add points. Benedictine's opportunity came first when it took advantage of a Rockford fumble and kicked a 28-yard field goal to extend its lead to 10-6. Subsequently, Rockford put together a 13-play, 84-yard drive with under a minute remaining before halftime. However, the drive stalled at the Benedictine 11-yard line when the Regents turned the ball over on downs on 4th and 1. The Eagles then took a knee and entered the half with a 10-6 lead.
The second half got off to a bad start for the Regents as the Eagles scored on each of their first three possessions. Benedictine took the second half kickoff and went 57 yards for a touchdown to extend their lead to 16-6 but missed the extra point. The Eagles then had short fields on each of their next two possessions after a 6-yard Rockford punt and a Regents fumble, turning each into touchdowns to extend the lead to 30-6.
Despite being down three scores, the Regents continued to fight and scrap as they have done all year long. This time the big play came courtesy of was senior Jacob Arnold (Romeoville, Ill./Plainfield North). Arnold took the handoff early in the fourth quarter and busted a 53-yard touchdown run down the sideline to cut the deficit to just 17 points. However that was as close as Rockford would get losing by a final of 30-13.
Offensively the Regents got another fine performance out of senior wide receiver Delroy Russell Jr. The senior caught 4 passes for 93 yards. Russell now has a single-season Rockford University record 808 yards receiving breaking the previous record of 797 yards set back in 2011 by Anastacio Zamba (Berkeley, Calif./Berkeley).
Defensively Rockford continues to improve and probably played its best game of the year despite being put in difficult situations most of the afternoon. Leading the defensive charge for the Regents all game long was junior linebacker Seth Swinehart (Rockford, Ill./East). Swinehart finished with a game-high and season-high 14 tackles. It was the first time this season the junior recorded double-digit tackles in a game. In addition to Swinehart at the linebacker level, both Kendell Lee (Poplarville, Miss./Poplarville) and Nicholas Lloyd (Rosamond, Calif./Rosamond) had stellar performances. Lee had five tackles with one tackle for loss while Lloyd had 7 tackles. Up front it was senior Moak Brown (Long Beach, Calif./Lakewood) who tied a season-high with 6 tackles. The Regents secondary was led by the duo of Reginald Haynes (Chicago, Ill./Prosser Career Academy) and Ian Walton (Acworth, Ga./Sprayberry). Haynes and Walton were all over the field each recording eight tackles.
Rockford will play on the road next Saturday at Maranatha Baptist Bible College. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. in Watertown, Wis.
