An old saying says an opportunity missed is an opportunity lost.

The Culver-Stockton football team piled up some missed opportunities in the third quarter of a 45-16 loss to 12th-ranked Benedictine College Saturday afternoon at Ellison Poulton Stadium.

Trailing 31-16 at the intermission, the Wildcats forced three fumbles on the Ravens' first three possessions of the second half but failed to turn those miscues into points.

On the first play of the second half, Dexter Marsh forced Rayshon Mills to fumble and Hyland Generlette recovered for C-SC at the Raven 46-yard line.

The C-SC offense moved the ball inside the red zone and eventually had first and goal at the eight-yard line. 

Two runs by Demarquez Johnson placed the ball at the four before a sack by the Ravens on third down moved the ball back to the 12. A field goal attempt by Michael Velasco was blocked and the Wildcats came away with no points.

On the ensuing possession, C-SC safety David Hernandez forced Benedictine quarterback Garrett Kettle to fumble near midfield and Anthony Flores recovered at the 50-yard line.

Again the offense faltered as a false start penalty was sandwiched around a pair of incomplete passes before another sack by the Raven defense forced the Wildcats to punt.

On the first play of the ensuing possession, Marsh forced Mills to fumble again and Hernandez recovered at the Raven 44-yard line. The Wildcats gained 11 yards to the 33 before yet another sack stalled the drive and forced the Wildcats to punt.

In the fourth quarter, the Wildcats would go three-and-out on three of the four offensive possessions with the other possession ending in an interception.

Meanwhile, the Ravens were able to hold on to the football long enough add two more touchdowns in the final period to account for the final score.

In the first half, C-SC took the opening kickoff and promptly moved right down the field, going 89 yards on seven plays culminating on a 55-yards catch and run by Slayton Ochoa. The extra point was blocked and the Wildcats led 6-0.

After the Ravens kicked a field goal on the ensuing possession, the Wildcats answered with a 10-play, 60-yard drive that ended with a Velasco 34-yard field goal.

Benedictine took just one play after the kickoff to score as Kettle found Jacob Gathright with a 71-yard touchdown pass, giving the Ravens a 10-9 lead after one quarter.

Kettle added his second touchdown pass early in the second quarter to up the lead to 17-9 before C-SC Jase Orndorff plunged in from a yard out to to make the score 17-16.

The Ravens added two more touchdowns in the quarter to go to the locker room up 31-16.

The Wildcats registered 298 total yards with 214 of those yards coming through the air. Orndorff finished the day with 195 yards passing on 17 of 35 accuracy. 

Ochoa, who had 10 catches for 138 yards last week against Central Methodist, garnered another 100-yard receiving day Saturday with eight receptions for 123 yards.

Benedictine ran up 529 yards of total offense with a balanced attack of 245 yards rushing and 284 yards passing. 

Kettle finished with 408 total yards with 267 yards passing and 141 yard rushing.Kettle accounted for five touchdowns.

The Wildcats, now 2-4 overall, will have a bye Oct. 8 before starting divisional play against Graceland University at home on Saturday, Oct. 15. Game time is set for 1 p.m. at Ellison Poulton Stadium.