From the opening whistle it was all Hillcrest Academy on the pitch Thursday at Carl McGill Field in Wapello as the Raven soccer team cruised by the Indians 10-0 in a Southeast Iowa Superconference tilt that ended in 48 minutes. Seth Ours started the scoring in the third minute, he struck a second time in the 18th minute. Grant Bender found the back of the net in the seventh minute on a PK and followed that with a pair of conventional goals in the 31st and 35th minutes for his first career hat trick. Other first half strikes for Hillcrest belonged to Owen Scott in the 10th minute, Jesse Blossom in the 16th, and Isaac Lybeck in the 32nd to put the Ravens on top 8-0 at half. Hillcrest finished things quickly after intermission with Bryce Bailey and Mason Bender both scoring in the 48th minute to end the contest early. After the match, Raven seniors Bender and Lybeck talked with KCII Sports about their goals and team performance. Bender said, “We strung a lot of passes together and then sent the ball over the top. It worked nice and guys just made shots. My first goal was just a PK. I pointed at the goalie which told him (where I was going) and he froze. The second one was a one-on-one kind of. The third one, I just dribbled out to the side and shot it, kind of curved it in. It’s my first career hat trick because I usually don’t play up top enough to get one.”

Lybeck added, “Our passing plays really showed through tonight. We had some good looking goals. My goal was technically (Grant Bender’s) goal. He took it all the way up, I was just there, and he happened to get it to me.”

To go with the scoring, Rowan Miller had a pair of assists and Grant Bender, Seth Ours and Mason Bender each had one. Kyle Neuschwander turned in his first career clean sheet. The win moves the No. 9 in Class 1A Ravens to 2-0 on the season ahead of a Tuesday match against Central Lee.