ATCHISON, Kan. — After a thrashing one week ago, Benedictine played like a different team on Saturday as the Ravens hosted No. 15 Missouri Valley.

But the improved play wasn’t quite enough as Missouri Valley executed a game-winning, last-minute drive to down Benedictine 20-19.

“Last week we were off balance, and we weren’t aggressive,” head coach Larry Wilcox said. “(Saturday) we played very aggressively against an aggressive team.”

That more aggressive nature didn’t translate to a win after a Missouri Valley drive was sustained deep in the Benedictine end of the field on a penalty. That penalty enabled Valley to score with 1 minute, 27 seconds left in the game and hand Benedictine its second straight loss.

Benedictine struck first when quarterback Ryan Kelly, who missed the game against Central Methodist a week ago, hit Chris Langley on a 25-yard touchdown pass with 5:22 left in the opening quarter.

Valley didn’t answer until the 12:10 mark in the second quarter when quarterback Chris White connected on a 16-yard pass to Bryan Blackley.

Tied at a touchdown each, Valley capitalized on one of three interceptions of Kelly when Gideon Israel took a pick back for a 44-yard return with just more than 5 minutes left in the first half.

During the second quarter, Wilcox made a surprise appearance on the sideline, and it seemed to fuel his squad. Wilcox has been out since the first week of the season after undergoing open-heart surgery.

“I was amazed,” defensive end Keith Starr said. “He was pretty intense when he came down, and we fed of his intensity. We were able to use it a as source of inspiration.”

Benedictine responded to the Missouri Valley interception return and was able to score late in the half when Kelly again connected with Langley, this time on a 14-yard pass.

The point-after by Alex Vaca failed and left the Ravens trailing 14-13 at the half.

In the fourth quarter, Kelly-Langley added to the Raven point total when Langley converted a 4-yard pass for a touchdown.

The Ravens tried to run the same play for two points but failed as Langley couldn’t come down with Kelly’s pass in the corner of the end zone.

The final touchdown of the game for Benedictine pushed the score to 19-14 Benedictine with 10:35 left in the game.

But Missouri Valley earned the win, capitalizing on a 17-play, 9-minute drive that moved the ball 76 yards and sealed the win.

Defensively, after giving up a record night to Central Methodist last week, the Ravens defense held Missouri Valley to 271 yards of total offense.

“(Today) was a vast improvement over last week,” Starr said. “We played a lot tougher this week. The defense really stepped it up against Missouri Valley, who we all knew as a perennial NAIA playoff team.

“We know that we all left it out on the field.”

Kelly finished with 19 completions on 34 attempts for 212 yards. He also threw three interceptions but was under constant pressure throughout the game.

“Their defensive philosophy puts a lot of pressure on the quarterback with a lot of heat and their blitz,” Wilcox said. “(Ryan) made some big plays for us throughout the game as he was facing a lot of adversity.”

Langley finished with 93 yards on five receptions to lead Benedictine.