Early-half intensity was the message for Villa Angela-St. Joseph against Benedictine on Oct. 17.

Both halves had the Vikings force turnovers on the opening drives for the Bengals.

Coupled with a strong night running the ball, and it led to a 33-22 victory for VASJ.

The Vikings improved to 7-1, while Benedictine fell to 7-2.

It was a strong start for VASJ, as it created a fumble on the opening drive, recovered by Devon Paul-Ragland. On the following play, DeAngelo White took the sweep 33 yards for the game’s opening score.

The defense followed with three drives resulting in 23 total yards for the Bengals, including a Savion Lewis interception.

“We had to play fast and physical,” Lewis said. “We practiced all week against a good scout team, and they got us really ready for tonight. We knew we had to go out there and execute.”

A short Benedictine punt set up the Vikings inside the Bengals’ 40. A 30-yard completion from Joe Efford to Lewis set up a two-yard score by DeVontai Moore that made it 14-0.

That’s when the Bengals offense got going.

Giovanni Iacampo drove the Bengals 69 yards and capped it with a one-yard touchdown. VASJ answered with Efford finding Lewis and Jamir Martemus for big gains and a quarterback sneak for the score.

But Benedictine had a good kickoff return from Kayden Forte to be inside the 25. The sophomore had 120 all-purpose yards.

Iacampo had a 15-yard completion to John Jones for the score to make it a one-possession game before the half.

While the Bengals had their offense rolling, Coach Jeff Rotsky knew his defense was making the right reads for the situation.

“We needed to get back to who we are and hit,” Rotsky said. “We got beat on the fade and a trick play. I think the base defense shut them down, and Benedictine is good. They have a good quarterback, running back, three receivers, and it was a good football game.”

Efford was 5-for-9 for 97 yards, while Lewis had 77 yards on three catches, all in the first half.

But the second half was all VASJ. Moore had his second score of the contest, a five-yard run, to open the half. He had 55 yards.

Moore shares reps with Ronnie Taylor and Raymier Kirby. Rotsky has seen the rotation being hard to stop consistently.

“It’s a tough three-headed monster, and we try to get to the other guys, too,” Rotsky said. “We played pretty good complementary football today, our special teams was good outside of one kickoff, and overall I’m proud of the effort we got.”

Then Lewis had his second interception, this one being a 55-yard pick-six.

“It’s been a while since we had a four-quarter game,” Lewis said. “We knew we needed to prepare for it. Going into this week, our younger guys really got us ready for tonight, and a lot of that credit goes to them.”

Iacampo was 12-for-30 for 103 yards and a pair of touchdown passes, the latter to Patrick Shea in the fourth quarter with under two minutes left.

VASJ closes the regular season with Delaware Hayes visiting Oct. 24. Benedictine welcomes Akron SVSM on the same date.

THE SCORE

VASJ 33, Benedictine 22