By Greg Echlin

It didn’t come easy, but Benedictine came from behind in the second half to beat Peru St., 31-27, and secure career victory No. 300 for Ravens head coach Larry Wilcox, now in his 42nd season at BC.

Wilcox became only the 14th coach at all levels of college football to reach the 300-victory plateau.

“That monkey’s off my back because it was a little bit heavy the last couple weeks,” said Wilcox, who was presented with a symbolic football after the game along with a bobblehead in his likeness.

“It might have the mustache a little bit off, but other than it was pretty good,” Wilcox snickered when asked about his resemblance to the bobblehead.

One week earlier, in his first attempt to reach 300 wins, Grand View (Des Moines, Iowa) routed the Ravens, 41-7.

Over the summer, chances appeared remote that the Ravens would even have a fall season because of the coronavirus pandemic.  But there was never any hesitation from Wilcox about returning this season to guide the Ravens football program through the COVID-19 obstacles.

“There were some bumps, especially early on, as everybody returned to campus,” said Wilcox.  “The fall athletes were here first, so we experienced some of the challenges of that and have worked through it.  I think everybody’s done what they could do to make it possible to have a school year and have a football season.”

The Ravens had two games wiped away from the early part of their schedule, which delayed the start of their season.  An NAIA football championship won’t be conducted until the spring.

Home crowds are limited for Ravens home games and temperature checks are given at the admissions gate.  A mask is required to be worn at all times during a Ravens game.

“I think some people thought that I was being serious enough about this during the summer months,” said Wilcox.  “But I was very serious about it all along.  I just didn’t feel like it had to be something that you had a worried look on your face all the time.  You had to go about your life and go about your business.”

So Wilcox had a two-pronged strategy all along: 1. Devise a plan to beat the next opponent on the schedule, and 2. Proceed with caution knowing that another outbreak of positive COVID-19 tests can adversely affect the Ravens season.

Through everything, there was never any thought of calling it a career before this season because of the pandemic.

“I don’t what else I’d do,” he said.

For the moment, Wilcox is working on adding to that career victory total that so few coaches have reached.