During Sam Benger’s four-year career at Carnegie Mellon University as a running back, the accolades have piled on.

During his sophomore year, he was the UAA and Presidents’ Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year and led the entirety of Division III football in rushing yards.

In 2016, his junior year, Benger made the AFCA All-American First Team, was the ECAC South Offensive Player of the Year and set the school record for single-season rushing touchdowns and points scored.

Then last week against Rochester, he had eight carries for 208 yards, averaging 26 yards per run.

If Waynesburg University wanted a winning chance against Carnegie Mellon, it directly correlated with how the Yellow Jackets dealt with Benger, and defensive coordinator Scott Venick knew it.

“[Benger] was the focal point of the game plan. We’re going to get extra people in the box to stop the run and we trusted our [defensive backs],” Venick said. “We’re going to put them in situations they are going to have to play a lot of man coverage…we were not going to let Benger beat us.”

Despite the 30-20 defeat, the Yellow Jackets managed to do something only one other team has ever been able to do against Benger. As a starter, Benger has had just two games with fewer than 50 yards of rushing in four years of game action.

The first time it happened was four years ago, his freshman year, against Thiel College. The second time it happened was last Saturday against the Yellow Jackets: eight carries for 34 yards.

Interim head coach Chris Smithley said with the help of the secondary, the original game plan was a complete success.

“[The defense] wanted to stop [Carnegie Mellon] and stop the run and I think we did that – I think we did that with flying colors,” Smithley said. “I think what we wanted to get done we did defensively, we put it on our secondary to play those guys in man [coverage].”

By the end of the third quarter, Benger was sidelined with an icepack and never returned to the game.

Contributing to the defensive effort of the Yellow Jackets was the team’s offense. Smithley said with the time of possession so heavily favored for Waynesburg, it kept the defense – and Benger – off the field.

“You look at the [statistics], we had a 19-play drive, a 14-play drive [and] a 12-play drive to keep the defense off the field…we did everything we wanted to do in that game from time of possession, from controlling the football and keeping our defense fresh,” Smithley said.

With the strong offensive presence through the majority of the game, Venick said it significantly reduced the time the defense was on the field.

“The offense did a way better job [against Carnegie Mellon,]” Venick said. “[Defense] played a lot less snaps, I think we played 80 defensive snaps against Westminster and this week it was kind of turned around – I think we only played 50. The best defense we can play is when we’re on the sidelines.”

Leading the defensive efforts for the Yellow Jackets was sophomore defensive back VaShon Graham and senior linebacker Brent Blacharczyk. Graham led in total tackles with seven, while Blacharczyk contributed with six tackles, four of which were solo takedowns. Venick said that junior defensive back Justin Wilkow also was a significant factor for the Yellow Jackets.

“We’re playing hard – you can see that by watching,” said Venick. “We are playing hard, but [Blacharczyk] had a really good game, we thought Wilkow was in shutdown mode – I don’t think the kid [he covered] caught a pass when he was on his side.”

Coming off the defensive success against Carnegie Mellon, the Yellow Jackets will have another difficult team to try and shutdown in Case Western Reserve University. Venick said Case Western Reserve offense represents more than just a rushing threat when on the field.

“[Case Western Reserve’s] got a great quarterback, he’s probably one of the better quarterbacks in the league and he does multiple things,” said Venick. “He can run, he can beat you with his arm…they have a great screen game, they have a great run game—we tried to take them out of the screen game last year.”

The Yellow Jackets will face Case Western Reserve University for a night game Saturday, Sept. 23, in Cleveland, Ohio. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.