SOUTHFIELD, MICH – Lawrence Tech University kicked off the 2024 football season Saturday afternoon as they took on the Cougars of Saint Xavier University (ILL.) at Blue Devils Stadium. This was a big day not only for LTU's Football program, but the university as a whole as this would mark the first game for newest Head Coach Scott Merchant. After being hired this offseason, Coach Scott went right to work as he had to build a staff and team from the ground up in hopes to turn a football program around that has not had much success the past several years.

The Blue Devils will embark on a new journey with a newly built coaching staff and roster after a disappointing 2023 season, finishing with a 3-7 record. Lawrence Tech's football team would hope to turn things around after back to back 3-7 seasons in 2022, 2023 and have not had a winning record since the 2021 season. It would not be an easy task as the Blue Devils would be taking on #13 ranked, Saint Xavier University in the opening week of the 2024 season after they finished 8-4 last season. 

The Blue Devils ended the first half with the ground game doing the bulk of the work with 102 net rushing yards. The bulk of the yards came from redshirt junior running back D'Vaun Bentley, who finished the game with 67 yards on 16 rushes. The LTU touchdown came with 3:16 left in the first half as redshirt freshman quarterback Ryan Schuster put a few beautiful runs into an end zone trip for himself to cut the Saint Xavier lead in half. 

The second half for the Blue Devils was dominated by Saint Xavier due to LTUs small mistakes and blemishes. The Blue Devils would finish the game with only 227 yards of total offense after a first half that saw 186 total yards of offense by the Blue Devils. The Blue Devils would only see five first downs after the first half of football. 

Quarterback Ryan Schuster finished the game with 120 passing yards on 21 completions while adding 26 yards and a touchdown with his feet. Runningback D'Vaun Bentley finished the game with 67 yards off of 16 rushes while adding 7 yards off of 2 receptions and also completing a pass for 13 yards. Wide Receiver Tyler Garrett led the Blue Devils in receiving yards with 61 yards off of 7 catches. Linebacker Sylvester Jones led the Blue Devils in tackles with 6 solo and 6 assisted tackles. Defensivebacks Ze'Veon Amontrell-Mcdonald and Martice Bunting each were able to intercept the ball from the Saint Xavier quarterback in this game. Defensiveback Thomas Lewis forced a fumble in this contest while defensive linemans Ferris Jordan and Brandon Holland-Gordon each recovered fumbles. 

The Blue Devils Football team is back in action on the 14th of September where they will be in Joliet, Illinois to take on 24th ranked University of St. Francis at 2:00 PM.