November 11, 2007
Benedictine's Larry Wilcox Earns 200th Career Win
FAYETTE, Mo. - In their last three games since getting head coach Larry
Wilcox his 199th career win, the Benedictine College Ravens have lost
three games in the final minutes of play.
Saturday in Fayette, that all changed as defensive back Adam Kenkel (Sr., Omaha, Neb.) picked off a pass with 55 seconds left in the game and returned it 18-yards for the game-winning touchdown over Central Methodist University, 20-13.
For Coach Wilcox, Saturday's win was all about his seniors, not himself.
"This group has gone through so much adversity," Wilcox said. "They've had a lot of bad luck and caught a lot of bad breaks, so to have that reversed finally today was sure a welcome thing.
"We've quite possibly had everything that could go wrong against us this year, go wrong. I'm happy for our players to get a win like this."
Chasing down the milestone, has never been something that Coach Wilcox has given much thought to throughout the season.
"For me it's always been a question of longevity," Wilcox said. "If you hang in their long enough it'll happen. I'm glad that it's behind us because it had been kind of wearing on us.
"Now that we've got this behind us, we can go into next year focussed on what we need to do to turn the tables on where we were this season."
The Ravens have lost seven games this season by a total of 30 points and when Kenkel returned the interception to the end zone, he understood the significance of the touchdown.
"I knew we had one the game," Kenkel said. "There was no doubt in my mind that our defense was going to hold and I just knew that we had one the game."
After he scored, Kenkel raised the ball in the air and took off for the Ravens sideline.
"I was looking for the 13 seniors that aren't coming back," Kenkel said. "That game was for them. This is probably the coolest game that I've ever been involved in. To win this for our seniors and to get Coach Wilcox the win means everything in the world."
CMU held a 6-0 lead over the Ravens at the half and were able to extend that lead to 13-0 in the third quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Ravens comeback effort started.
Quarterback Ryan Kelly (R Fr., Topeka) connected on a 48-yard touchdown pass to with receiver Jake Mohr (Soph., Bennington, Neb.) to close the Ravens within a touchdown.
With 90 seconds left in their season, Kelly struck again, this time on a 25-yard run to tie the game at 13-all.
Seconds later, Kenkel's interception return iced the game for the Ravens, handing Coach Wilcox career win No. 200, making him just the fifth coach in NAIA history to reach that milestone mark.
"It feels good to be on the other side (of a game like that)," said NAIA All-America center Truman Ashby (Sr., St. Louis). "It's been an honor to have played for (Coach Wilcox) and it's nice to be part of such a huge milestone for him."
Saturday in Fayette, that all changed as defensive back Adam Kenkel (Sr., Omaha, Neb.) picked off a pass with 55 seconds left in the game and returned it 18-yards for the game-winning touchdown over Central Methodist University, 20-13.
For Coach Wilcox, Saturday's win was all about his seniors, not himself.
"This group has gone through so much adversity," Wilcox said. "They've had a lot of bad luck and caught a lot of bad breaks, so to have that reversed finally today was sure a welcome thing.
"We've quite possibly had everything that could go wrong against us this year, go wrong. I'm happy for our players to get a win like this."
Chasing down the milestone, has never been something that Coach Wilcox has given much thought to throughout the season.
"For me it's always been a question of longevity," Wilcox said. "If you hang in their long enough it'll happen. I'm glad that it's behind us because it had been kind of wearing on us.
"Now that we've got this behind us, we can go into next year focussed on what we need to do to turn the tables on where we were this season."
The Ravens have lost seven games this season by a total of 30 points and when Kenkel returned the interception to the end zone, he understood the significance of the touchdown.
"I knew we had one the game," Kenkel said. "There was no doubt in my mind that our defense was going to hold and I just knew that we had one the game."
After he scored, Kenkel raised the ball in the air and took off for the Ravens sideline.
"I was looking for the 13 seniors that aren't coming back," Kenkel said. "That game was for them. This is probably the coolest game that I've ever been involved in. To win this for our seniors and to get Coach Wilcox the win means everything in the world."
CMU held a 6-0 lead over the Ravens at the half and were able to extend that lead to 13-0 in the third quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Ravens comeback effort started.
Quarterback Ryan Kelly (R Fr., Topeka) connected on a 48-yard touchdown pass to with receiver Jake Mohr (Soph., Bennington, Neb.) to close the Ravens within a touchdown.
With 90 seconds left in their season, Kelly struck again, this time on a 25-yard run to tie the game at 13-all.
Seconds later, Kenkel's interception return iced the game for the Ravens, handing Coach Wilcox career win No. 200, making him just the fifth coach in NAIA history to reach that milestone mark.
"It feels good to be on the other side (of a game like that)," said NAIA All-America center Truman Ashby (Sr., St. Louis). "It's been an honor to have played for (Coach Wilcox) and it's nice to be part of such a huge milestone for him."