Stevenson quarterback Aidan Crawley received the ideal senior gift this year — two junior receivers who can run past the defense.

Crawley connected on a large number of long balls to juniors Dylan Fawcett and Brandon Hersch as Stevenson rolled to a 31-6 victory at Libertyville in the North Suburban Conference opener for both sides on Friday.

Fawcett finished with eight catches for 124 yards, Hersch added four receptions for 124 yards, while Crawley finished with 325 yards through the air overall.

“We’ve got some speedy guys this year, and it’s awesome knowing I have those guys out there,” Crawley said. “They’re going to make plays. I trust them and they trust me, and it’s awesome.”

Fawcett said he met Hersch freshman year, and they’ve been pretty good friends since then. Crawley added 76 rushing yards, so which of the three is fastest?

“I’ve got to give it to Hersch, he’s frickin’ fast,” Fawcett said.

The air attack was welcome, because Stevenson (2-1) opened with a loss to Prospect, then edged Wheaton North 10-7 in Week 2.

“Our offense has had a slow start the first couple of weeks here,” Stevenson coach Brent Becker said. “They came out and really kept working and I was proud of the response.”

Both teams started slowly, thanks to a wave of penalties on both sides. On Stevenson’s second possession, Crawley tossed a short third-down pass to tight end Zach Becker and he turned it upfield for a 58-yard touchdown.

After the game, Becker was using crutches and had an ice bag on his left ankle, but his dad expects him to be able to play next week.

Fawcett lost a fumble after a catch in the second quarter, for the only real nervous moment for the Patriots. But once Stevenson got the ball back, Fawcett caught passes for 16 and 32 yards, setting up Crawley’s 2-yard sneak to make it 14-0.

Crawley went deep again on Stevenson’s next possession and found Hersch behind the defense for a 62-yard TD. A 33-yard field goal by Caden An made it 24-0 at halftime.

Libertyville finished the first half with one first down and 25 total yards, compared to 303 yards for the Patriots. Sunny Tsai, Anthony Adams and Jake Zachura were some of the defensive standouts for Stevenson.

It took just three runs by junior Aiden Weaver to eclipse that yardage total at the start of the third quarter. Eventually, the Wildcats had a fourth-down touchdown pass to tight end Brock Williams wiped out by a holding penalty. But their drive was kept alive by a pass interference call and Trevor Wallace threw a nearly identical 19-yard jump ball TD to Williams to get Libertyville on the board.

Libertyville junior quarterback Brady Buenik announced his commitment to Tennessee for baseball in the afternoon. The Wildcats typically rotate quarterbacks and Buenik took the snaps on three of the first four offensive series, then had his helmet knocked off, had to leave the game and did not return.

“We just really struggled to execute on all phases of the game,” said Tim Budge, Libertyville’s first-year head coach and former defensive coordinator. “Defense we had trouble stopping the deep pass. I thought the run game was going to be our No. 1 challenge, but they threw it on us.”