2008 Woodie Awards
Finishing Strong
Lakeland outlasts Benedicitine in offensive shootout
Corey Kempf
Issue date: 11/20/03 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
The Lakeland College football team is no stranger to scoring a lot of points, and in their final game of the season at Benedictine, they needed to do just that.
When the defense struggled against the Eagles, the Muskie offense went to work, gaining 526 yards on their way to a 61-34 victory.
Senior quarterback Brent Luebke led the way for the Muskies as he has done all season, firing for 318 yards and three touchdowns while also running for 55 yards and two more touchdowns.
Benedictine scored first to make the score 7-0 on a long touchdown pass from Ryan Keag to Sebastian Singleton, but the Muskies stormed back to even the score after one of Luebke's touchdown scampers. Shortly thereafter, the Eagles fumbled the kickoff, and the Muskies would take a lead they wouldn't relinquish after Shaun Behrend caught a 34-yard Luebke pass for the score.
In the second quarter, freshman running back Marcus Denham led in scoring with three touchdowns in the quarter. His first was a nine yard run early in the period. His second, from six yards out, followed a Benedictine touchdown pass by Keag.
Keag tossed another touchdown pass to close the score to 27-21, but that was all the closer the Eagles would get as Jeff Taff took the ensuing kickoff 86 yards to pay dirt.
An interception would give the Muskies one last shot at the end zone before the half and Denham responded by crashing in from one yard out.
Luebke opened the second half, scoring late in the third quarter with a two yard run, making the score 47-21.
The Eagles answered again with another touchdown pass from Keag to Singleton.
Taff would score again to make the score 54-28 with a five yard reception on the first play of the final quarter.
Keag fired back with his fifth and final touchdown pass of the day from 10 yards away, closing the gap to 54-34. However, the Luebke and the Muskie offense was too much for the Eagles to handle.
With 8:30 to play in the game, Luebke tossed another strike to Behrend, this time from 31 yards away, to make the score 61-34.
Behrend ended his day with six catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns. Denham finished with 93 yards rushing and three scores.
Highlighting the game was Benedictine's wide receiver Sebastian Singleton, who caught 15 passes for 262 yards and four touchdowns against the normally stingy Muskie defense.
The Muskies ended their season at 8-2 overall and 6-1 in the Illini-Badger Conference, which was good enough for second in conference. Their only loss came to the eventual conference champs, Concordia University (WI). The 8-2 mark was the best record tallied by Lakeland football since their undefeated 1997 season.
When the defense struggled against the Eagles, the Muskie offense went to work, gaining 526 yards on their way to a 61-34 victory.
Senior quarterback Brent Luebke led the way for the Muskies as he has done all season, firing for 318 yards and three touchdowns while also running for 55 yards and two more touchdowns.
Benedictine scored first to make the score 7-0 on a long touchdown pass from Ryan Keag to Sebastian Singleton, but the Muskies stormed back to even the score after one of Luebke's touchdown scampers. Shortly thereafter, the Eagles fumbled the kickoff, and the Muskies would take a lead they wouldn't relinquish after Shaun Behrend caught a 34-yard Luebke pass for the score.
In the second quarter, freshman running back Marcus Denham led in scoring with three touchdowns in the quarter. His first was a nine yard run early in the period. His second, from six yards out, followed a Benedictine touchdown pass by Keag.
Keag tossed another touchdown pass to close the score to 27-21, but that was all the closer the Eagles would get as Jeff Taff took the ensuing kickoff 86 yards to pay dirt.
An interception would give the Muskies one last shot at the end zone before the half and Denham responded by crashing in from one yard out.
Luebke opened the second half, scoring late in the third quarter with a two yard run, making the score 47-21.
The Eagles answered again with another touchdown pass from Keag to Singleton.
Taff would score again to make the score 54-28 with a five yard reception on the first play of the final quarter.
Keag fired back with his fifth and final touchdown pass of the day from 10 yards away, closing the gap to 54-34. However, the Luebke and the Muskie offense was too much for the Eagles to handle.
With 8:30 to play in the game, Luebke tossed another strike to Behrend, this time from 31 yards away, to make the score 61-34.
Behrend ended his day with six catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns. Denham finished with 93 yards rushing and three scores.
Highlighting the game was Benedictine's wide receiver Sebastian Singleton, who caught 15 passes for 262 yards and four touchdowns against the normally stingy Muskie defense.
The Muskies ended their season at 8-2 overall and 6-1 in the Illini-Badger Conference, which was good enough for second in conference. Their only loss came to the eventual conference champs, Concordia University (WI). The 8-2 mark was the best record tallied by Lakeland football since their undefeated 1997 season.