After starting the 2013 football season with a 47-8 thrashing of Albany, the Benilde-St. Margaret’s Red Knights collected another win with a 43-16 win over conference rival, Robbinsdale Cooper. Senior quarterback Keaton Studsrud recorded career-highs of 265 yards passing and four passing touchdowns for the Red Knights.

The Red Knights took an early 8-0 lead with a Callaghan Commers rushing touchdown and two-point conversion. They would add three more touchdowns before halftime to take a 29-0 lead at the break. “I felt good about the way that we started the game, but [we] knew it wasn’t over yet. We had to come out and play well for another half to win the game,” senior wide receiver Sam Lynch said .

The Hawks regrouped in the second half and were able to mount a few scoring drives against the Red Knights, cutting the Red Knight lead to 36-16 in the third quarter. Cooper was closing in on another touchdown when senior Jared Taitt sacked the Hawk’s quarterback and forced a fumble which was recovered by the Red Knights.

Taitt’s sack was the culmination of an impressive performance by the Red Knights as they held the Hawks to 75 yards rushing for the entire game.  “Our defense, especially our linebackers, did a great job staying disciplined and keeping everything inside,” Taitt said.

Through their two games this season, the Red Knights have outscored their opponents 90-24 and have recorded 989 total yards of offense. Studsrud has also taken big strides as a passer and has recorded seven passing touchdowns which equals his entire passing touchdown total from last season. “Having 7 returning starters on offense provides a lot of experience and makes the little things in football that seemed hard last year easy,” Studsrud said.

If there is anything the team thinks they could improve on, it would be staying focused throughout the entire game. “All of the points we have given up so far this season have come in the 2nd half. We all know that we’re capable of getting some shutouts so we need to be able to finish in the 3rd and 4th quarters,” Taitt said.

The Red Knights will have their first home game on Thursday, when city-rival St. Louis Park comes in looking for the upset. “It’s always fun playing our cross town rival St. Louis Park. With our offense doing as well as it is and our defense holding other teams’ offenses right now, I think we will come out with a win,” Studsrud said.