Loyola's No. 1 football team had been a little concerned about Edmondson's defense after the No. 10 Red Storm's performance last week against Mount St. Joseph, but the Dons didn't have nearly as much trouble as their Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference counterpart.
Connor Bruns threw for two touchdowns and ran for one in the first 10 minutes Saturday to open a 21-point Loyola lead en route to a 47-14 win in on-and-off drizzly rain.
A week ago, the Red Storm didn't let Mount St. Joseph's offense within 19 yards of its end zone but lost a 9-6 heartbreaker because the Gaels recovered a fumble in the end zone.
On Saturday, Bruns had the Dons' offense rolling from the start while the Red Storm managed just one first down in the opening quarter.
Matt Hnatiuk caught 22- and 23-yard touchdown passes before Bruns snuck in a 2-yard keeper with 2:02 left in the first quarter for a 21-0 lead. The junior quarterback completed 14 of 23 passes for 194 yards. He rushed for his fourth touchdown in the second quarter as the Dons (3-0) boosted their lead to 44-8 by halftime.
"I expected them to try to stop Vince [Snarski] first, because he's had two good games," Bruns said, "so we decided to run him first, and play action opened up really well."
Snarski, a senior running back, did a lot of work early, gaining 88 yards on 11 carries. The offensive line - Ben Cranston, Jordan Horne, Brendan Dunn, Ben Carroll and Luke Llardo - gave the Red Storm a lot of trouble, as did Tamar Boone, who ran for 81 yards on 10 carries, including a 50-yard touchdown.
Dons coach Brian Abbott said he knew Edmondson had the ability to break a big play, and the Red Storm's Devin Carpenter Jr. proved that concern was warranted. The senior gave the Red Storm a spark by returning a kickoff 79 yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter, but the team couldn't maintain any momentum as Loyola scored the next 26 points.
The Red Storm (0-2) capped the scoring when Jerry Lovelocke hit Carpenter with a 16-yard pass with 33 seconds to go.
Edmondson coach Dante Jones said missed tackles hurt his team in the early going.
"They didn't show us anything we didn't prepare for," Jones said. "It was just like we never got into a routine ... but we're a good program. Any loss, we learn from. We'll watch film and we'll get back into our regular season and we'll get going."
E 8 0 0 6 - 14
L 21 23 0 3 - 47
L-Hnatiuk 22 pass from Bruns (Bradley kick)
L-Hnatiuk 23 pass from Bruns (Bradley kick)
L-Bruns 2 run (Bradley kick)
E-Carpenter 79 kickoff return (Jackson run)
L-Hartman 10 pass from Bruns (Bradley kick)
L-Bruns 2 run (kick failed)
L-Bradley 22 FG
L-Boone 50 run (Bradley kick)
L-Bradley 25 FG
E-Carpenter 16 pass from Lovelocke (run failed)
