WILMINGTON — Quasim Benson was hit two yards behind the line of scrimmage and, for a moment, it appeared he’d be tackled for a loss.

All of a sudden, the St. Elizabeth High junior running back bounced off the defender and plowed ahead for four more yards.

The first-half run was good enough for a first down conversion on fourth and inches and just one play later he found his way into the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown run on the way to a 14-7 Class 1A victory over Indian River High at Abessinio Stadium Thursday night.

The Homecoming win keeps the Vikings unbeaten at 5-0, but proved to be the closest game of the season for them after outscoring the previous four opponents by a combined 181-18.

Indian River, coming off consecutive decisive wins over Odessa High (31-0) and Seaford High (35-6), dropped to 2-2. It marked the first Class 1A loss for the Indians.

Indian River remains on the road next Friday night with a Class 1A-District 2 showdown at Polytech High at 7 p.m.

“You have to tip your hat to IR, they played hard tonight,” said St. Elizabeth coach Mike Lemon. “They’re a great football team and they’re going to be there at the end of the season ... We’re just fortunate and grateful that we played a little bit better tonight. We’ll take it and move into next week.”

Benson finished with 127 yards and a touchdown on 24 rushing attempts, gaining 124 in the first half.

Senior quarterback Brett Smick tossed for 74 yards and a touchdown on four completions. Two-way sophomore Mike Downes caught three passes for 48 yards and registered two sacks on defense.

Dalton Hall led Indian River’s rushing attack with 75 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. Senior quarterback Ryan Sheerer led the IR offense, completing three passes and adding 10 yards on the ground.

Though Indian River’s defensive unit struggled to stop the run in the first half, the Indians forced three turnovers, including a pair of interceptions, to keep the Indians in it until the last 90 seconds.

St. Elizabeth forced two punts, three turnovers on downs, a pair of fumbles and registered five sacks against the Indian River offense.

“It’s 11 hats to the football,” Lemon said of the defense. “Eleven equals one on defense — it’s the same on offense — but man, they’re running around, they’re hungry ... when you get hats to the football, good things can happen.”

After a scoreless opening quarter, St. Elizabeth scored first with Benson’s 17-yard run with 7:19 to play in the half. Benson ran the ball on 10 of the 11 plays of the 82-yard drive, which ate up nearly seven minutes.

After a quick three-and-out from IR, the Vikings extended the lead to 14-0 with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Smick to junior running back Christopher Caracter with 1:53 remaining in the half.

The Indian offense trotted down the field on its first possession of the second half, setting up a first and goal at the Vikings’ 10-yard line, but the St. Elizabeth defense stepped up to force a turnover on downs at the two-yard line.

Several possessions later Indian River had another shot at putting points on the board, before a fumble inside the opposing five-yard line once again put an end to the scoring threat with 3:29 remaining.

Junior Hayden Hall quickly stole the momentum back for Indian River one play later, recovering a St. Elizabeth fumble at the six-yard line to set up Dalton Hall’s six-yard scoring run to cut the lead in half with 3:09 remaining.

Trailing by a touchdown with 1:55 remaining, Indian River got the ball back inside St. Elizabeth territory but the Vikings’ defense stepped up for one last stop to preserve the win with a fourth-down sack from junior lineman Carl Taylor.