Benedictine football caps season with VISAA Division 1 title win
RICHMOND, Va. — The Benedictine Cadets are VISAA Division 1 state champions, having trumped the Trinity Titans 31-14 in the championship game. This win was also significant as the Cadets jumped the hurdle that was Trinity, as the Titans had defeated the Cadets in two prior championship games.
The Benedictine football team capped off its season with an 11-1 record. The Cadets blew their opponents out of the water, winning most of their games by 20 or more points. The Green Machine opened its season with an away game, dominating Western Branch 31-13, and the Cadets never looked back. After this win, Benedictine kept winning games by wide spreads and received an immense amount of recognition, including being ranked as the top team in the entire state of Virginia, according to MaxPreps. This season was looking to be the Cadets’ first undefeated season since the early 1960s, until the final game of the regular season dawned, and Trinity embarrassed Benedictine with a final score of 36-7.
Although that regular-season Trinity game was a huge blow to the Cadets, they still finished the regular season with a 9-1 record, which was their best regular-season finish in over a decade (excluding the 2020 team which went undefeated, but only played four games due to COVID) and received the number one seed in the playoffs. With the number one seed, Benedictine also earned the home field advantage, which set the stage for the Cadets’ playoff games to be held at Bobby Ross Stadium.
Benedictine’s first playoff game was a promising victory against former arch-rival St. Christopher’s, where the Cadets cruised past the Saints 21-10.
The state championship began with an impressive first offensive drive from Trinity that was sparked by a deep pass completion, but the Cadets responded with a play that seemed to come right out of a movie. The razzle-dazzle consisted of a 65-yard touchdown thrown by running back Leo Boehling ‘24 to wide receiver Riley Roarty ‘24. It was a scuffed pass, but it thrilled the packed Cadet section.
For the rest of the game, the team stuck to an old-school ground-and-pound strategy that rarely disappointed. Benedictine’s rushing attack finished the season with well over two thousand yards on the ground and 29 total touchdowns, led by senior running back and VMI-commit Boehling, who had over a thousand rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns. The passing attack was also very impressive, with quarterback Cody Shelton ‘24 throwing for over a thousand yards and 16 touchdowns. Freddy Barber ‘24 led the team with 500 yards receiving and caught three of Shelton’s bullets for touchdowns.
The Cadet defense proved every game why they are one of the best defenses in the state, by allowing the fewest number of points in VISSA’s Division One. The defense was led by a multitude of players and was highlighted by Khalil Moore ‘24, who had four interceptions, taking two of them to the house; Tim Semisch ‘24, who had nine sacks and three forced fumbles and was named a Richmond Times-Dispatch Player of the Week; and safety Jackson Hall ‘25, who led the team with 90 tackles and three interceptions.
The 2023 Benedictine football season will be remembered as one of the Cadets’ best seasons of their long and illustrious history. It was also the fourth such championship (not counting the Cadets’ COVID unbeaten season that went unrecognized by VISAA) in Head Coach Greg Lilly’s 15-year tenure at the helm of the team.
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