Benedictine football team grinds out an impressive win over Camden County

Benedictine coach Danny Britt soaked in everything he could during his college football career at Georgia Southern and the veteran Cadet coach decided to borrow a concept from his alma mater as his team prepared for this week's matchup with visiting Camden County.

Britt and his staff picked a player to wear No. 0 for the game in honor of his effort i n last week's win over Hebron Christian and his work in practice this week.

Senior running back Stanley Smart Jr., who ran for a career high 192 yards in the win over Hebron, earned the accolade and changed his regular No. 5 to No. 0 for the big non-region game with the visiting Wildcats.

He represented the respect he earned with another stellar performance in the Cadets come-from-behind 27-23 victory.

Smart Jr., who has committed to play at Virginia Tech, ran for 143 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries to help lead BC (2-1) to its second straight win.

"We stole the idea for Georgia Southern," said Britt, in his 16th season leading the BC program. "It's a reward from the previous week ― someone who does things above and beyond and plays really hard and really well. We tell about three or four people they are candidates and then watch how they practice and lead in preparation for the game before deciding who gets to wear No. 0.

"Stanley is running hard and he also blocked really well last week and caught a couple balls ― and he has become a great senior leader for our team ― and that's a big part of it."

Eron Mallard will be on the short list to don the No. 0 jersey next week after the Purdue-bound senior put on a show in the win over Camden County (2-1). Mallard, who will be a receiver in college, caught four balls for 63 yards and ran for career-high 163 yards on nine carries, including an 87-yard scoring run on the Cadets first possesion.

"Running the ball is different than catching it because you have to run hard and be a dog in the trenches," Mallard said. "Our offensive line did a great job and I just followed their blocks and tried to run fast. Camden County is a tough team, they played hard and never gave up ― but we were motivated to win and didn't lay down."

It was a game of firsts for kicker Parker DiTomasso, who is also a star on the Cadet soccer team. The sophomore had his first-ever field goal attempt and he connected from 42 yards out with 17 seconds left in the first half. With 2:48 left in the game, he converted again from 23 yards to put BC up by four. He also made his first career tackle, helping slow down FSU-bound senior Sean Green who nearly broke loose for a kickoff return for a score.

"I just tried to think of all the work I put in and tried to do it like I've practiced," DiTomasso said of his first field goal. "And I've worked on some tackle drills, so I just tried to do what I could to take him down."

BC quarterback Omari Burse was 10 of 15 passing for 150 yards with a 45-yard scoring strike to Cole Henderson. who also ran for 33 yards.

The Cadet win broke a Camden County streak of 72 straight wins over Savannah area teams, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. BC was the last to beat the Wildcats in 2000.

The Wildcats ran a lot from the Wildcat formation. Malakhi Poole ran for 71 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 11 carries. Camden quarterback Xavier Collins was 12 of 19 for 118 yards with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Jesse Newsome. Green had five receptions for 67 yards.

"They run that Wildcat stuff so well, and I thought (defensive coordinator) Coach (Galen) Houston did a great job making adjustments at the half," Britt said. "They guys played smart, played physical and got after it."

Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at Dknight@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN