The No. 12 ranked Raven Football Team was humming like a fine-tuned machine in their season-opener, winning 75-7 against Bethany College on O'Malley Field at Larry Wilcox Stadium.
Benedictine (1-0) started off hot and never cooled off, coming 1 point shy of a program record for points in a game (76 against Central Methodist in 2017). The Ravens offense scored on their first five possessions. Add in a blocked Bethany punt that was returned for a touchdown and the Ravens took a 48-0 lead into halftime.
The Ravens first score of the 2018 season was a 59-yard touchdown pass from Shaefer Schuetz to Aaron Jackson. On Benedictine's second drive, Schuetz connected with Carl Hecht for a 1-yard touchdown. Following an interception by Benedictine's Tyler Thrasher, the Schuetz-to-Jackson connection turned in a 13-yard touchdown with 3:10 to play in the first quarter as Benedictine pushed ahead 21-0. Schuetz threw his fourth touchdown of the first quarter when he tossed a screen pass to Charlie Nihart, who took it 21 yards for the score, giving the Ravens a 28-0 lead over the Swedes after one quarter of play.
After big plays by the offense and defense in the first quarter, the Ravens special team unit notched its own big play early in the second quarter. Tyler Tierney blocked the Swedes punt and Blake Fanning scooped up the ball and ran in for a score.
Later in the second quarter, Nihart took a hand off and ran 64 yards for a touchdown that put the Ravens up 42-0. Schuetz found Logan Soto for a 44-yard touchdown with 1:26 before halftime to give Benedictine a 48-0 lead.
Nihart notched his third score of the game in the third quarter, punching through the line for a 2-yard touchdown to increase the Ravens lead to 55-0. With 1:31 left in the third quarter, Jacob Avery took a hand off and scored on a 4-yard run to give Benedictine a 61-0 lead.
Bethany was able to find the end zone in the fourth quarter, scoring a rushing touchdown 24 seconds into the final frame. The Ravens ended the game with two more touchdowns; the first was a 31 yard pass from Zach Hammond to Tanner McClaran. The same duo connected for the final touchdown, a 28 yard passing score.
The Ravens offense accumulated 565 total offensive yards, with 290 coming on the ground and 275 yards through the air. Schuetz was 14-of-18 for 206 yards. Jackson caught four passes for 85 yards and Logan Harris had four catches for 37 yards. Nihart led the Ravens rushing attack with 88 yards on five carries.
The Benedictine defense had strong numbers, too, holding Bethany to 145 offensive yards and just eight first downs. Thrasher had a sack to go along with his interception, and Dante Edwards recorded two sacks.
The Ravens will travel to Missouri Valley College for a 6 p.m. game Saturday, Sept. 1. The next home game will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22 against MidAmerica Nazarene University.
