ALTON – Marquette Catholic's football team is coming off a tough loss last week to Pawnee.
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Despite the 30-7 loss which dealt a blow to the Explorers' Prairie State Conference title hopes, they still believe that they can reach the IHSA Football Championship Series, which gets under way the weekend of Oct. 30-31. Marquette (3-3 overall, 3-1 PSC) will begin that last push to the postseason with a PSC game at Bunker Hill (4-2 overall, 2-2 PSC) tonight, with kickoff set for 7 p.m.
Explorer coach Darrell Angleton believes his team will be in for a tough test against the Minutemen. “They're a tough team,” Angleton said. “It's going to be a challenge for us, no doubt, but I believe we can win this game.”
Marquette's loss to Pawnee was a case of not executing when they needed to, Angleton felt. “We needed to execute and we didn't,” Angleton said. “They were only up 6-0 at halftime and it was still close going into the fourth quarter before they pulled away. We did have some opportunities, though.
“It was a tough loss, but we'll be ready this week and we'll bounce back from it.”
The Minutemen aren't the fanciest of teams; they're a basic power-running team that opens up holes for their backs. Their leading rusher is Larry Sievers, who has 43 carries for 482 yards and five touchdowns. Chase Williams is the leading receiver, with 10 catches for 135 yards and one touchdown; their quarterback, Stormy Coffman, is 31-for-59 for 469 yards and five touchdowns on the season.
Sievers lead the team in tackles on defense, gathering up 41 of them on the year, while four players have six sacks each on the year for B-Hill.
While the chance for a conference title is all but gone, the playoffs are still within reach for Marquette, and Angleton knows the Explorers are capable of getting there.
“If we win our last three games (which include dates with Metro East Lutheran-Madison and Mount Olive to close out the schedule), we should get into the playoffs,” Angleton said. “It's what you play for, but first thing we need to do is play Bunker Hill this week."
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