Give the St Benedict Bears credit for giving it their best shot and making a game of their semi-final encounter with the two-time defending champion Lo-Ellen Park Knights.

Where each and every one of the five regular season Lo-Ellen outings was basically over at the half, the Bears trailed 7-3 with less than four minutes to play until the break.

A pair of late first half touchdowns by the Knights - 35 yard pass from Steven Sola to Carter Sagle (3:22) and 52 yard pass from Sola to Quin Mazzuchin (0:36) - all but sealed the fate of the Bears, who still trailed only 22-3.

In the end, the scoreboard would read Lo-Ellen 30 St Benedict 10 - far and away the most competitive contest for the Knights this year.

Steven Sola had opened the scoring with a one year TD run, adding a pair of converts, while Sagle hauled in his second major from 11 yards out in the third quarter. Paolo Grossi (17 yard FG + PAT) and Noah Conde (10 yd TD run) accounted for the St Benedict scoring.

The second semi-final was pretty much the Owen MacDonald show as the workhorse running back recorded for rushing majors (runs of 85, 72, 7 and 34 yards) in leading the Lively Hawks to a 37-6 win over the Lasalle Lancers.

Quarterback Ian MacDonald added the final TD for the winners while a rushing major from Zidain Allen got Lasalle on the board with under five minutes to play.

This sets the stage for a Lo-Ellen v Lively showdown Friday at 4:30 p.m. at the James Jerome Sports Complex.