Bendictine shows heart, battles to a 5-5 tie with Berkshire High School

An on-again-off-again drizzle and soggy field didn't dampen our Bengals' spirit Thursday night as they came back from a two-goal deficit late in the second half to walk away with a 5-5 tie against Berkshire High School.

A downpour in Burton about a half an hour before the game left the field in poor condition.

Tony Smith scored three times for Bendictine and Alex Fatica scored twice. Aaron Gilliam recorded two assists, and Jonathan Diaz, Fatica, and Aaron Davis each had one. The Bengals took 24 shots on goal.

On the other side of the ball, senior Bryse Cirjak, known to Benedictine fans simply as No. 21, dominated play for Berkshire. Cirjak scored three times, while No. 19 Gabriel Skol scored twice.

Benedictine struck first a couple of minutes into the game when Smith scored. The lead changed hands after that, and Benedictine found themselves down 3-2 at the half. Berkshire stretched the lead to 5-3 by late in the second half.

But Bengal senior co-captains Diaz, Fatica, and Jacob Maclin turned up the heat on the field, rallying the team through their words and stepped-up, hard-nosed play. Benedictine scored twice, and pressured Berkshire near its goal in the final minutes of the game. The Bengal defense played tough, making key stops and saves as the clock wound down.

"We didn't give up at the end. We fought back," said Assistant Coach Giuseppi DiPio.

"I liked our heart, that we didn't give up," added Head Coach Michael Perez.

"We missed some opportunities," Perez said. "Our team work was better. Now they're showing me they're ready to take this to the next step."

Our tailgate party is coming up

Our tailgate event will be on Saturday, Sept. 17, before the game against Nordonia High School. The game is at 7 p.m. Our tailgate party will be at 2 p.m. at the school.

For $10 per family, you'll get hamburgers, hotdogs, condiments, and buns.

Some families have already given Denice DiPio $5, but you owe another $5. (Sorry. That's because we upped the contribution amount after pricing food). You can send money for the party with your son in an envelope with your name on it. Have him give it to Coach Perez.

Additionally, each family is asked to bring their own drinks plus a dish to share with everyone. Please let Denice know how many people you are bringing and what your dish will be.
You can reach her at gddipio@sbcglobal.net, 440-668-0205 (cell) or 440-585-1739 (home). Mrs Lacey said she is going to bring individual bags of chips plus some sort of dessert. Thanks Mrs. Lacey!

You may also want to bring chairs.

If the weather does not cooperate, the tailgate will be cancelled.

Thanks Denice for all your hard work! And go Bengals!

Bengals top Holy Name

Solid defense and a burst of scoring led by Tony Smith lifted Benedictine last night to victory over Holy Name High School at James Day Park in Parma. The score was 5-1. Smith, who scored three times for the Bengals, was joined with goals by Alex Fatica and Aaron Gilliam. Games photos have been added to our gallery. Click here to see them.