The No. 5 Ravens slipped past MidAmerica Nazarene (1-5, 1-4) in a thrilling 45-40 victory this afternoon, improving their record to 7-0.
Cameron Fore had another record breaking day as he tied and passed Don Brown for all time scoring points and touchdowns. Brown played for the Ravens from 1990-93 and recorded 50 touchdowns and 304 points during his years at Benedictine.
Fore scored two rushing touchdowns, giving him 51 career touchdowns and a total of 310 points.
“I know who has held those records in the past and they were pretty amazing athletes, so that puts (Fore) in an outstanding category and I’m happy for him,” said Ravens head coach Larry Wilcox.
Benedictine came out fast in the first half taking a 7-0 lead on the first drive of the game when Bill Noonan connected with Brad Lorang from the MNU 2-yard-line.
The Raven defense allowed a field goal from MidAmerica Nazarene with just over six minutes left in the first quarter, but Benedictine made up for that by scoring the next 24 points.
Much of Benedictine’s explosive scoring in the first half was initiated by big defensive turnovers.
In less then two minutes of game time, the Ravens defense intercepted the Pioneers twice and forced and recovered one Pioneer fumble.
Dylan Meisenheimer accounted for the first interception at the MNU 48-yard-line, which he ran back for a touchdown.
In the next drive Meisenheimer recovered a fumble forced by Josh Scheuler on the MNU 37-yard-line. Two plays later, Noonan connected with Jerrin Walton in the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown pass.
The final Pioneer turnover came 47 seconds into their next drive when Abdullah Sabir intercepted Trent Hedlund’s pass at the MNU 35-yard-line. This interception set up Raven offense for a quick three play touchdown drive, where Fore carried the ball in from the 3-yard-line.
The Ravens were up 38-10 with 11 seconds left in the half, when MNU faked a field goal and Patrick Corrigan found an open JD Wood in the end zone. MidAmerica Nazarene attempted another fake on the PAT, but were unsuccessful.
The Ravens entered the half leading the Pioneers 38-16.
The second half, however, was not as fortunate for the Ravens.
After Fore scored his second rushing touchdown with 10:31 left in the third quarter, the Pioneers scored 24 unanswered points, cutting the Ravens lead to five with just over four minutes remaining in the game.
However, the Raven offense was able to pick up three first downs in their last drive and run the clock down before the Pioneers could have another chance to score, maintaining their flawless record on the season.
“We played an outstanding first half and they played an outstanding second half,” Wilcox said. “Fortunately, we were able to hang in there and come away with an important victory for us.”
Fore led the Ravens with 134 rushing yards off of 27 carries and Kevon McGrew picked up 56 yards off of 10 carries.
Noonan threw for 194 yards off 14 of 21 passes and threw three touchdown passes. Walton picked up 129 receiving yards off of 7 completions from Noonan.
Defensively Ely Hendricks led the ravens with 12 tackles, 10 of which were unassisted and Sabir accounted for eight tackles.
The Ravens hit the road next Saturday to take on Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Mo. Kickoff in Canton is set for 1 p.m.
— BC Sports Information —