Last Friday on October 15th, the Benilde St. Margaret’s football team went on the road and defeated the Orono Spartans for their first win of the season.

The week prior on senior night, BSM fell to Hill-Murray in a back and forth game that ended with the Red Knights losing to Hill-Murray in overtime by a score of 49-43. Coming close to finding their first victory, the Red Knights came into their Orono game prepared and confident to capture their first win of the season. Senior linebacker Will Peschel thought his team came ready to play, “We had a heartbreaking loss on senior night that we all thought we should have won, and I think that helped us come ready to win this game against a tough Orono squad,” Peschel said.

The scoring kicked off with the Spartans scoring first off a 3 yard run, and running back Luke Fredin answered with a 7 yard touchdown run of his own. There was no scoring in the second quarter, and the game went to half knotted at 7-7. Orono scored again to start the second half, and BSM answered just a minute later with a touchdown pass from quarterback Jamarrius Courtney to wide receiver Max Benning.“ We knew we needed to answer right away after their second touchdown, and I think we gained a lot of momentum by scoring super fast,’’ Benning said.

Benning has been a staple piece this year for the Red Knights, as he currently sits at number seven in the state for receptions with 38 on the year, and 8th in the state in yards totalling 630 and 6 touchdowns. But Benning shrugged when hearing these stats. “ I am just glad we were able to close out a win,’’ Benning said.

BSM scored again in the third quarter with an 8 yard run by Courtney, and the Red Knights went into the fourth quarter with a 21-14 lead. With just 4 and a half minutes to play, Orono scored their third touchdown of the game, and instead of kicking an extra point to tie the game at 21, they elected to go for two points and were successful, putting pressure on the Red Knights to have to attempt to comeback in the fourth quarter again. “The defense played well the entire game and the two point conversion really set us back,” Peschel said.

With their backs against the wall, BSM started their drive with little time to spare. For the next three minutes, BSM worked their way down the field and were able to set up a game-winning field goal attempt for junior kicker Elliot Huether. Huether had been successful thus far on the day, converting 3/3 extra points, and this 30 yard field goal was no different. It went right through the uprights and the BSM Red Knights had their first win of the year. “Elliot really came up clutch, and the whole team was super excited after the game and it felt like a huge weight was lifted off of our shoulders,” Peschel said.