Benilde-St. Margaret's Football Eliminated by North Branch

The Benilde-St. Margaret’s football team was eliminated by North Branch 38-27 in the state class AAAA quarterfinals Thursday.

The game got off to a wild start. North Branch’s Tyler Minke broke an 82-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage for an early 8-6 lead.

Benilde quickly responded with a scoring drive capped by a short TD run by Sean Washington to pull within 8-6 less than three minutes into the game.

North branch scored again three minutes later for a 16-6 lead, only to see BSM come right back to score on a Nirvaan Yogarajah to Jayden Daisy touchdown pass.

The game was 16-13 just seven minutes in.

North Branch scored two quick touchdowns in the middle of the second quarter to build a 30-13 lead.

Benilde came back to score on the final play of the first half as Yogarajah hit Daisy for his second touchdown of the half to bring the Red Knights within 30-20.

They tightened the score early in the second half as Washington ran for a 42-yard touchdown to make it 30-27.

The scoring pace slowed though as North Branch added a touchdonw in the third quarter and held on for the 38-27 win.

Yogarajah was 17-for-22 for 311 yards and two touchdowns.

Daisy had six catches for 101 yards and the two TD’s, while Khalif Brown added five catches for 108 yards.

Washington had 168 yards rushing.

The Red Knights finished the season with a 5-7 record.