ATCHISON, Kan. — Mistakes evident in Benedictine’s three straight Heart of America Athletic Conference losses were nowhere to be found against Avila on Saturday, as the Ravens crushed the Eagles 31-0 at Larry Wilcox Stadium.

Going into the home contest, coach Larry Wilcox noted three over-arching needs that weren’t met in consecutive losses to Central Methodist, Missouri Valley and MidAmerica Nazarene: protecting the quarterback, generating a pass rush and maintaining assignments in the secondary.

“A lot of our mistakes have been mental so far,” Benedictine linebacker R.J. Nill said. “It’s not what we can’t do; it’s what we fail to do. So if we pick it up a little bit and reduce those mistakes, we’ll be all right.”

The Ravens were more than all right in improving in those areas against the Eagles:

Raven quarterback Ryan Kelly threw for 178 yards on 12 completions and hit wideout Chris Langley for touchdowns of 17 and 34 yards. Kelly was sacked once in the 20 times he dropped back to pass.

The Ravens defense sacked Avila quarterback Justin Reed fives times and harassed him all afternoon. Reed complete just six passes on 22 attempts.

The Ravens picked off Reed twice. Defensive backs Dustin Ralls and Bill Emmerson snagged interceptions in the fourth quarter, and the secondary was credited with four pass breakups. The defense didn’t allow a pass play longer than 36 yards after giving up big play after big play in Benedictine’s losing streak.

While Avila was one of the weaker opponents Benedictine faces this year (the Eagles have just one win this season and have yet to beat Benedictine in the teams’ nine-year series), Wilcox knows the victory was a crucial one for the Ravens’ psyche.

“It’s a lot more fun to win,” Wilcox said. “The guys had a really good week of practice when it would’ve been good to throw in the towel a little bit. But they’re mature enough not to do that, and the end result was the success we had today.”

The Ravens defense came up big against Avila, holding the Eagles to 163 yards of total offense and stuffing them twice in the red zone to secure the season’s first shutout. Linebacker Ryan Bunkowski stopped Avila running back Damien Collins on fourth and 2 at the Ravens’ 17 in the second quarter.

On the Eagles’ next red-zone trip, Benedictine defensive ends Keith Starr and Ryan Hurtado converged on Collins on fourth and goal from the 1-yard line to preserve the shutout again.

“Everybody’s doing their job and that creates plays for other people,” said Nill, who had a second straight outstanding performance and was credited with a sack, two forced fumbles and seven total tackles.

“It’s a team effort and there’s no individual stats on this defense. The defensive ends played like madmen today, and they’re one of the reasons we got those red-zone stops.”

Benedictine scored twice in the first quarter on D.J. Matysek’s 9-yard touchdown run and Langley’s first TD reception. Alex Vaca added a field goal with 30 seconds left in the half.

The third quarter saw no scoring, and the Ravens held a 17-0 lead going into the fourth. On the first play of the quarter, Kelly hit Langley streaking down the right sideline for the pair’s second scoring connection.

True freshman running back Omar Diaz added a 2-yard touchdown scamper with less than nine minutes to go.