After allowing a touchdown on St. Francis’ second possession of the game, the Benilde-St. Margaret’s defense went into shutdown mode and Keaton Studsrud scored a pair of touchdowns as the Red Knights posted a 12-7 road victory.

BSM forced a three-and-out after the Saints took the opening kickoff at their own 20-yard line but a 58-yard punt by Brandon Hartzberg back the Red Knights up inside their own 20 and, four plays later, a fumble set up the hosts at the visitors’ 33.

Seven plays and two minutes, 53 seconds later, Max Gust, who carried the ball on six of those seven plays, scored on a seven-yard run.

BSM was forced to punt after three plays when it got the ball back but Mikey Koller intercepted a pass at the Red Knight on the final play of the first quarter.

The turnover transformed into a nine-play, 70-yard drive. Studsrud completed all three of his pass attempts to account for 44 yards and rushed five times for 29 yards, scoring on an 18-yard run but a missed extra point attempt enabled St. Francis to hold onto a one-point lead.

Despite BSM’s defense keeping the Saints off of the scoreboard while giving its offense good field position, the score remained 7-6 until deep into the fourth quarter.

The Red Knights had a chance to take the lead with 5:41 to play in the game. A drive which started at the St. Francis 44, ended at the 19 and Matt Arnason lined up for a 37-yard field goal attempt. However, his kick was wide left and the Saints had a chance to run out the clock.

BSM’s defense managed to hold once again and a short punt by St. Francis gave the Red Knights the ball at their own 41 with 3:47 to play in the game.

On the first play, Studsrud found John Lager open over the middle and the pair hooked up for a 54-yard completion to give BSM a first-and-goal at the Saints’ five-yard line.

Running out of their short-yard set, with Studsrud at running back and Jack Goldstein at quarterback, Studsrud took a pitch around the right side and ran over a would-be tackler to get into the end zone for the go-ahead score with 3:19 to play in the game.

The hosts got the ball back at their own 24 with 3:11 to play in the game but needed 11 plays to move just 45 yards and the Red Knight defense eventually forced St. Francis to give up the ball on downs and Goldstein took two snaps and kneeled down to run out the clock.

Studsrud topped the 100-yard mark rushing for the third time in four games this season. He finished the game with 112 yards on 22 carries and also completed 14 of 19 passes for 163 yards, accounting for 275 of the Red Knights’ 307 yards of total offense.

He also saw action on defense late in the game, making three tackles on the Saints’ final drive of the game while also record a pass breakup.

Lager was Studsrud’s favorite target in the passing game. The six-foot, four-inch junior receiver record a career-high five catches for 100 yards. Sam Lynch and Nathan Hanks each caught three passes on the night.

BSM’s defense had plenty of standout performances, led by Spencer Shaver’s career-high 18-tackle performance.

Nick Viers chipped in with 11 tackles while also forcing one fumble and breaking up a pass. Callagha Commers added 10 tackles, two of which were for loss.

The Red Knights return home Friday for this year’s Homecoming Game, taking on Irondale in a 7 p.m. game at BSM Stadium.

For complete game statistics, click here.