It had been two years since the Benilde-St. Margaret’s football team had last faced off against city rival St. Louis Park. In the much anticipated rivalry game, the Red Knights defeated the Orioles 48-13 to improve to 3-0 on the season.

The Red Knights completely dominated the first half scoring six touchdowns with senior quarterback Keaton Studsrud accounting for three of them. While only playing in the first half, Studsrud went 9-for-9 with 134 yards passing and accumulated 58 yards rushing.

The second-string players were given a majority of playing time in the second half and while the Orioles were able to score two touchdowns, it was too much to overcome and the Red Knights captured the victory. “It is always an awesome feeling beating our rivals especially being up on them that much,” Studsrud said.

While the Red Knights defeated their rivals by 35 points, the teams believes there is still room for improvement. “Even though we won by a lot, there was some sloppy play that we really need to clean up,” senior captain Jared Taitt said. The Red Knights did not score an offensive touchdown in the second half and had eight penalties accounted for 60 yards throughout the game.

The Red Knights’ next game will be against the Fridley Tigers, a team the Red Knights went 1-1 against last season. “We need to be focused for Fridley, they’re not going to give us anything. If we play them like we did Cooper, we’ll be in good shape,” said senior captain Jeremy Pastir.