The student section lost their voices as the Benet Academy Varsity football team played the Moline Maroons on Friday evening for the first home game of the season. Already jumping with joy after the Benet Academy Freshman football team snagged a winning game earlier at 5 pm against Moline 24-14. Spirits were high as Varsity geared up for their first home game. Entering the game, both teams were 1-0, but the Redwings went straight up to 7-0 as Marty Radgowksi got a touchdown just 3 minutes into the game. 

Benet would continue to dominate the first quarter of the game, but Moline soon made a comeback with a touchdown at the start of the second quarter. Adrian Cooper leads Moline to be tied with Benet at 7-7 with just 9 minutes to play in the half. Moline managed to hit the Redwings with another comeback, but this time the touchdown was intercepted from Aiden Larsen by Redwing defenders. Marty Radgowski then turned Moline’s comeback into a Benet comeback, moving the Academy up to 14-7 with the clock ticking away. Despite this, right before halftime, Eli Taylor and Chase Marner partnered up to bring Moline to yet again tie with the Redwings 14-14, leaving viewers on their tip-toes throughout the break. 

Starting with a strong start after halftime, Radgowski gots his third touchdown of the game to bring Benet to 21-14 against Moline. The Redwings continued to show the audience they indeed can fly, with Ryan Kubacki and Luke Doyle leading the team to 28-14 with six minutes left in the third quarter. Moline attempts to make a comeback, but Daniel Flores intercepts the ball and gets the Redwings their second defensive touchdown, 35-14. The Maroons snag the ball, and Elijah Warren brings them closer, but still far away, with a new 35-21. In the fourth and final quarter of the nerve-racking first home game, Kubacki and Doyle showed teamwork by getting the winning touchdown, leaving the game at 49-29.

The student section for this first ‘FNL’ home game had students literally jumping out of their seats when Benet defeated Moline, bringing Redwings up to 2-0 for the start of the packed football season. No inch of color can be seen, the student section decking themselves out for the themed ‘Back-in-Black’ game. Liam Rooney, number 99, stated post-game that, “after a tough first half, I’m proud that we were able to rally as a team and get the win.” The Avions, Cheer Squad, and Marching Band demonstrated what it means to be a Redwing, performing and cheering on the team as they took Benet to a win. Senior Korina Mongirdas captured the most enthralling photos of the excitement and happiness for the new 2024-2025 school year and football season. The next home game is September 20th, the homecoming game, where Redwings will ‘Greek out’ as the Benet football team will compete against Viator.