ST. JOSEPH – St. Joe’s offense came into Friday’s game with Benton Harbor in high gear after beating Kalamazoo Loy Norrix the week before 55-7. The Bears offense was in cruise control as St. Joe defeated the visiting Tigers 42-0, improving St. Joe to 5-0 on the season.

St. Joe capitalized on great field position after a Benton Harbor punt, setting the Bears up at the Tiger 20 yard line. After Alex Rutherford brought the ball down to the 2 yard line, he would finish it off on the next play as St. Joe opened the scoring at 7-0.

The St. Joe defense forced a Tiger fumble on the Tigers next drive and the Bears found the endzone again on the next drive after Jeremy Rush ran for 49 yards bringing the ball to the Tiger 15 yard line. Four plays later Josh Akins scored on a 6 yard run to put the Bears ahead 14-0.

The Bears expanded their lead to 21-0 midway through the second quarter, as St. Joe went on a 9 play drive, capped off with a three yard touchdown run from Eddie Montgomery.

Montgomery found the endzone again in the final minute of the second quarter when the Bears special teams tackled Benton Harbor punter Dominique Anderson at the 11 yard line after a bad snap. Montgomery scored from a yard out and the Bears headed into the intermission with a 28-0 lead.

The Bears took advantage of great field position after another Tiger punt, when the Bears completed a 4 play, 25 yard drive with Alex Rutherford’s second touchdown run of the game, to put the Bears ahead 35-0, beginning the MHSAA mercy rule.

As the time continued to run, the Bears closed out the third quarter in the Tiger endzone again as Alex Rutherford scored his third touchdown of the game to put St. Joseph ahead 42-0-.

While the offense was done for the night, the defense never stepped down as the Bear defense stopped the Tigers the rest of the way. In fact the St. Joe defense held Benton Harbor to negative 1 yards to total offense for the game.

St. Joe outgained Benton Harbor 315 to -1 for the game and held the Tigers to only two first downs for the game.

St. Joe improves to 5-0 and can clinch a playoff spot and get a leg up in the race for the Big 16 West division title with a win at Portage Central.

SCORING SUMMARY

Benton Harbor     0  0  0 0 –   0
St. Joseph       14 14 14 0 -- 42

SJ - Alex Rutherford 2 run (Josh Akins kick)
SJ - Josh Akins 6 run (Josh Akins kick)
SJ - Eddie Montgomery 3 run (Josh Akins kick)
SJ - Eddie Montgomery 1 run (Josh Akins kick)
SJ - Alex Rutherford 1 run (Josh Akins kick)
SJ - Alex Rutherford 3 run (Matt Phillips)

Elsewhere around the Big 16

	Portage Northern 43, Lakeshore 27 - McCamley Field, Portage Adam Dunlap threw for four touchdown passes, three of them to Chris Laneaux as Portage Northern defeated Lakeshore 43-37. Alex Padla threw for two touchdown passes to Robert Shelby in the loss.
	Niles 33, Mattawan 22 - Viking Stadium, Niles Niles scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter at the Vikings defeated Mattawan 33-22. Brandon Partee scored four touchdowns for the Vikings, who broke a two game losing streak.
	Portage Central 56, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix 14 - Griffith Stadium, Kalamazoo Portage Central got two TD's from Aaron King and Angelo Latora, plus got single scores from Brian Wise, Kyle Cutler, and Will Jacobson as the Mustangs improved to 5-0 with a 56-14 win at Loy Norrix
	Harper Creek 37, Kalamazoo Central 7 - Thomas Stadium, Kalamazoo The brotherly combination of Kody and Kasey Carson accounted for two touchdowns each and Trevor Blattner added a score as Harper Creek beat Kalamazoo Central 37-7.
	Battle Creek Lakeview 36, Coldwater 12 - Cardinal Field, Coldwater Battle Creek Lakeview took a 36-0 lead after three quarters in a 36-12 win at Coldwater. Mike Bednar, Travis Lankerd, Dar'Ryck Bradley, and Jordan Martin had touchdown runs for the Spartans.
	Lumen Christi 49, Marshall 21 - Redhawk Stadium, Marshall Lumen Christi's Michael Cremeans rushed for 200 yards, and sophomore quarterback Amani Bass went 5-for-6 for 73 yards and rushed for another 89 yards as the Titans won the matchup of the defending Division 4 and 5 state champions. Marshall is 0-5 for the first time since 1974.
	Sturgis 34, Battle Creek Central 22 - Trojan Field, Sturgis Sturgis won their fourth straight game as the Trojans beat Battle Creek Central 34-22. Chris Alexander had two touchdown runs and Chance Stewart threw two touchdown passes to Dan Scheske in the win.