The No. 15 Benedictine College Football rode a dominant first half to a 49-19 win against the MidAmerica Nazarene University Pioneers Saturday afternoon at Larry Wilcox Stadium. The Ravens held a 35-0 lead by halftime.
Benedictine showed its strength on the first drive of the game. After receiving the opening kickoff, the Ravens put together a 79-yard drive that lasted 4:33, culminating in a touchdown pass from Shaefer Schuetz to Alex Blake. The Ravens took a 6-0 lead after the extra point attempt was no good.
Marquis Stewart carried the ball several times on the drive to help get the offense going. Stewart finished the game with 134 rushing yards on 18 carries.
"Our offensive line did a great job today," Stewart said, also noting the entire offensive unit gives opposing defenses a lot to deal with. "Our receivers and our running backs, too, are just a lot for the defense to handle."
After the Ravens defense shut down the Pioneers first drive, Benedictine's ensuing drive lasted just two plays. Schuetz connected with Aaron Jackson for a pair of completions; the first was an over-the-shoulder catch along the Ravens sideline and the second resulted in an 8-yard touchdown to put Benedictine up 13-0.
On the following MNU possession, Tyler Thrasher sacked Austin Blackston on fourth down to give the Ravens good field position. The Ravens turned it into a 43-yard field goal to give Benedictine a 16-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
"Against Evangel, we came out a little slow so we wanted to get off to a fast start today," Thrasher said. Thrasher finished the game with two of Benedictine's five sacks. Tyler Shephard, Dante Edwards and Jalen James also recorded sacks for the Ravens.
The second quarter was similar to the first as the Ravens continued to extend their lead. Stewart scored on a 1-yard rush early in the quarter, then bolted past the defense for a 44-yard score with 5:47 left before halftime to push the lead to 29-0 in favor of Benedictine.
The final first-half touchdown was a Schuetz pass to Tre Adgar that gave the Ravens a 35-0 lead at the break.
MNU was able to break through the Benedictine defense on its opening drive of the second half, but the Ravens blocked the extra point to make the score 35-6. The Ravens offense answered the call with its own touchdown, a Schuetz pass to Stewart that went for 38 yards to increase Benedictine's lead to 42-6.
The Pioneers scored twice more in the third quarter to make the score 42-19 in favor of the Ravens heading into the fourth quarter.
The final score of the contest came on a 1-yard rush that saw KJ Hart hurdle a group of bodies to get into the end zone, giving the Ravens a final advantage of 49-19.
The Benedictine ground game was strong throughout the game. The Ravens rushed 49 times for 247 yards. Schuetz completed 14-of-23 passes for 239 yards. Jackson had five catches for 94 yards, Adgar had four catches for 49 yards and Blake caught three passes for 41 yards.
The Ravens defense held the Pioneers to 260 offensive yards. MNU rushed for 62 yards on 35 attempts, an average of just 1.77 yards per carry.
The win improves the Ravens record to 3-1 on the season. Benedictine will hit the road for its next game, taking on (12) Baker University at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29 in Baldwin City, Kan.
