Benet senior forward Matt Benka knows it takes a lot of energy to win just one playoff game, let alone the seven required for a state championship.

That’s why he has made sure to provide the Redwings with a spark.

“Matt’s been electric,” senior forward Abdalla Alattar said. “He’s just cooking on the sidelines.”

Indeed, something is stirring on Benet’s right wing, which is where Benka plies his trade.

It didn’t take Benka long to ignite Benet’s offense on Tuesday. He used a quick touch, breathtaking acceleration and a powerful shot to score the first goal in the top-seeded Redwings’ 4-0 win against second-seeded Belvidere North in the Class 2A Wheaton St. Francis Sectional semifinals.

Senior defender Sam Trunnell started the play by sending a long ball to Benka, who burst by a defender into the right side of the box before ripping a 10-yard shot past Belvidere North goalkeeper Mason Moore with 25:41 left in the first half.

“I just took a nice touch on the outside and went toward the goal,” Benka said. “Then I just cut in and used speed to go straight in. I just hit it as hard as I could, and it just went straight up into the top corner.”

The Redwings (14-3-3), who will play third-seeded Timothy Christian (17-6) for the sectional title at 5 p.m. Saturday, controlled the action the rest of the way to remain unbeaten in their past 14 games. The Blue Thunder (14-4-2) mustered just three shots, all of which were stopped by Benet senior goalkeeper Drew Connell, who recorded his 15th shutout.

“What a game for Matt Benka,” Benet coach Matt Klosterman said. “He was really outstanding. I thought they tried to adjust to him because he was having such a great game, but he got us on the scoreboard and really opened things up for us. He came to play today.”

Benka has been doing that a lot lately. His goal was his seventh of the season, which temporarily tied him for the team lead with Loyola-bound senior defender Nick Roe, who later recorded his eighth goal when he headed home a corner kick from junior forward Brendan Bergnach.

Most of Benka’s production has come in the past two weeks.

“I think later in the season as we’ve gotten more focused, the more locked-in I’ve been, so that has helped me excel and do what I want to do each game,” Benka said. “I changed my attitude, too, to be more positive.”

The Redwings took a lot of positives out of this game, including the play of Alattar, who increased Benet’s lead to 2-0 at the 9:01 mark of the first half when he scored on a rebound after Moore had made a diving stop on sophomore forward Mateo Picha.

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It was the first varsity goal for Alattar, who missed his junior season with a torn ACL.

“Mateo had a nice shot on goal,” Alattar said. “Coach always tells us in practice to get ready to crash the goal, so that’s what I did.”

While the Redwings don’t have a premier attacking player, they do have many ways to find the back of the net. Fourteen players have combined to score 53 goals, 11 of which have come in their three playoff games.

“I believe in this group,” Alattar said. “We’ve had this great chemistry going all season long, and the goal is to win state. I feel we can achieve that.”

Benet’s odds of doing so will increase if Benka continues to fuel the offense with spectacular early goals.

“It just felt awesome to break the ice right away,” Benka said. “Because after that, we could play our game.”

Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.