The Padua Football team defeated Alliance 34-6 to open the 2024 season last night at Kehres Stadium on the campus of the University of Mount Union.  The Bruins scored early and built upon their lead throughout the game for the victory.  

Padua opened the scoring on a Roderick Love 28 yard TD run then Nick Barker connected with Riley Cervenka on a 4 yard TD pass to give the Bruins a 13-0 lead after the first quarter. The Bruins tacked on another TD with Barker throwing to Love for 13 yards and Padua led 20-6 at halftime.  The Bruins scored on their first possession of the second half on Love's 33 yard TD run then Barker finished the scoring on a 10yd TD run plus Barker threw to Connor Williams for the 2 point conversion.  

Love led the way with 3 TD's on 15 carries for 172 yards plus 4 catches and 72 yards.  Barker had 15 completions on 22 attempts for 193 yards passing plus 28 yards rushing.  Cervenka led the team in receptions with 7 catches for 72 yards.  Defensively, the Bruins were solid and balanced across the defense with the following players having over 5 tackles: Devin Shaw-Mason (8 tackles), Christian Ruggiero (8 tackles, 1 tackle for loss), Williams (8 tackles), Brady Devore (6 tackles), Nick Kelly (6 tackles, 3 sacks, 2 tackles for loss) and Dominic Hankins (5 tackles, 2 sacks, 3 tackles for loss).  

The Bruins return to action next Friday when they host Perkins High School from Sandusky.  Kickoff is scheduled for 7pm at Padua Stadium.