He takes his assistants to a Chapel Hill restaurant, orders a ton of hot wings, and watches the Division IInational championship game.

This year, he almost bypassed Chapel Hill for the real thing. He was very, very close to being in Florence, Ala., and watching it from the sidelines.

But his team fell in the second round to Carson-Newman 28-25, two wins short of every coach’s dream.

So instead, Bennett and his assistants sat watching the finals again on TV as Carson-Newman lost the title for the South Atlantic Conference in Northwest Missouri State’s dramatic four-overtime 58-52 win.

“We always said to one another, ‘We’d like to be there,’” said Bennett. “This will be a little harder to stomach because we had a chance this year.”

n

The Indians had more than a chance against Carson-Newman, their SAC nemesis. With about four minutes remaining, Catawba was inside the C-N 35. It had stunned the sleepy crowd by rallying from a 28-6 deficit to get within three points.

And then, on first down, Mitch Ellis went back to pass.

At the time, Ellis had already burned the Eagles’ talkative secondary for more than 350 yards.

The Carson-Newman cronies in the press box were squirming and screaming. A sports information official had to remind everyone that “this is a working press box and cheering will not be tolerated.”

And then, Ellis released the ball.

Freeze it!

It was as if the pigskin floated through the air in slow motion, every eye transfixed on its flight. In the two or three seconds the ball was in the air, every Catawba fan could envision the lead and every Carson-Newman fan could see an interception.

It was a completion, to Cedric Squirewell on the 7. The faithful in blue went wild.

“I thought, ‘We’re at the 7-yard line,’” Ellis said. “This is a big advantage.”

And then, Ellis and the fans saw yellow, as in penalty flag.

“I saw the defensive back grab Nick Means and pull him back,” Bennett said. “I was already telling Mitch to decline it.”

Instead, a holding penalty was called on receiver Means, who seemed to be miles from the play.

Offensive coordinator Jamie Snider explained that the pass play was supposed to be behind the line so the receiver could block. But Ellis changed his mind and threw downfield, meaning Means’ block was illegal.

“Nick was blocking his butt off,” Snider said. “He didn’t know what was going on.”

Two passes and a run later, Matt Gross missed a 45-yard field goal from the right hash mark.

“The only thing I’d change is, we would’ve run something to the left,” Snider said. “Gross had already missed from that distance on the right hash. We could’ve given him another look. Because in his mind — there were a thousand things going through it.”

n

Thus ended perhaps the most disappointing 11-2 season in history. What hurt even more was realizing that favored Cal-Davis had been upset by Northeast Oklahoma. Had Catawba pulled it out against Carson-Newman, it would’ve hosted the Division IIsemifinal game for the right to play on ESPNSaturday.

“You see that score and kinda go, ‘Oh my, we could be one game from the national championship,’” said Snider.

It hurt even more the next week when the score rang up Carson-Newman 42, Northeast Oklahoma 7.

“We were told that Northeast Oklahoma had a running back who averaged 180 yards but that they didn’t pass much. That would’ve played to our strengths,” Bennett moaned.

n

Catawba has been forced to face reality. Carson-Newman was better. If only by a little, the Eagles were a step above.

“We had eight quarters to beat them and we did not do it,” Bennett shrugged. “They were the better football team.”

“I’ve got to give them credit — as much as I don’t want to,” said Snider. “Carson-Newman knows how to win.”

So the Catawba staff did something Saturday that it hopes does not become a tradition — cheering on the Eagles in their victory over Missouri.

“It makes the South Atlantic Conference look better and it makes Catawba football look good,” said Snider. “The two closest games they played was against us. Which sets up a pretty big game next year if we take care of business and they do, too.”

With almost every starter returning, Catawba will be expected to waltz through the SAC by fans who simply go by what’s on paper. But Bennett says there will be no big heads on next year’s team.

“There’s no reason to have the big head,” Bennett said. “We didn’t win the national championship. And we lost to the same team twice. So I think we’ll be hungry. We should have something to prove.”

And if Catawba proves its worth and makes it back to the Division II playoffs, Bennett would like to begin another staff tradition: Eat those hot wings in Florence, Ala., after the national title game, not during it.

n