Ravens Football closed out non-divisional play with a shutout win Saturday afternoon.
The (5) Ravens defeated the Saint Ambrose University Fighting Bees, 34-0, at home on Family Weekend.
Neither team was able to put together sustained offensive success in a scoreless first quarter, but the Ravens were keyed by strong defensive and special teams play in the second quarter.
The Ravens defense forced a Bees punt that gave the offense strong field position, starting at the SAU 39-yard line. That drive turned into a 39-yard
Kylar Haarhuis field goal for the game's opening points.
The defense forced another punt from SAU and the Ravens offense used chunk plays to extend their lead.
Xiomar Hernandez rushed for 15 yards, then
Patrick Heitert followed it up with a 25-yard run.
That set up a Heitert touchdown pass to
Christian Pitts as the Ravens pushed their lead to 10-0.
Then it was time for the special teams to get in on the action.
Sam Torline blocked the next Bees punt and
Ben Gilliland scooped it up and returned it 35 yards for the score.
The second-quarter onslaught wasn't done, though.
Isaiah Hasten intercepted the SAU quarterback and the Ravens offense drove 31 yards in 32 seconds to set Haarhuis up for a 29-yard field goal just before the halftime buzzer, giving the Ravens a 20-0 lead at halftime.
The Ravens scored 17 of their 20 second-quarter points in under 5 minutes of action.
A pair of Ravens touchdowns highlighted the second half as
Cooper Hajek scored on a 3-yard rush in the third quarter, then
Joseph Lagafuaina hauled in an 18-yard pass from
Kaden Austin in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring.
The Ravens offense totaled 385 yards and the defense held the Bees to 204 total yards.
Hernandez rushed for 70 yards on just 11 carries, and
Titan Osburn caught three passes for 68 yards.
Gilliland was in on 10 total tackles to lead the defense, with
Dylan Witherspoon adding 7 and
Kolbe Sexton chipping in 6 more.
The Ravens (4-1) will being Heart South Conference play with a 1 p.m. home game against (23) Baker University on Saturday, Oct. 3 in Atchison.
