Marist (3-1, 2-0 East Suburban Catholic) @ Benet (3-1, 1-1 East Suburban Catholic), 7:30PM
Last week: Marist won at Notre Dame, 49-42; Benet won at St. Patrick, 30-28
Storyline: Fresh off putting up 27 points in the second half to erase an early deficit and come away with a two-point win at St. Patrick, Marist awaits Benet for the second straight year in Week 4.
Jack Sznajder’s second-half TD passes to Robert Bordignon and Will O’Grady, coupled with TD runs from Charlie Weidenbach and Marty Dosen, got the Redwings’ offense going against the Shamrocks.
All told, Sznajder threw for 282 yards as he completed 21 of his 31 passes while Dosen ran for 162 yards in putting the collective poor effort the offense put forth the week before against Notre Dame behind it.
In forcing three St. Patrick turnovers, including two interceptions, the Redwings’ defense picked up Dosen as he fumbled twice.
Meanwhile, the RedHawks have won three straight games after dropping their season opener to Mount Carmel.
Marist’s offense has averaged 50 points in its three victories but has given up a combined 70 points on defense the last two weeks.
In their 49-42 victory over Notre Dame last week, the RedHawks got 376 passing yards and four TDs from senior quarterback Brendan Skalitzky.
Skalitzky connected with Liam Keffer for all four of his touchdown passes as Keffer hauled in 12 passes for 249 yards.
At 2-0 in the East Suburban Catholic, Marist is tied atop the conference with Joliet Catholic and Marian Central Catholic. Benet sits in a four-way tie for second place at 1-1.
Benet coach Pat New on Marist: “I drove up there and actually watched the (Marist-Notre Dame) game, so it was good to see it in person – eventhough I get film on them, to kind of see that in person. The thing Marist is going to give you is you have to defend the entire field. You got to defend the run and then you got to defend sideline-to-sideline on the pass and then you got to defend the quarterback (Skalitzky) running. So there’s just so many components that you have to defend, which really makes it tough on the defensive coordinator.
“The thing that impresses me – this is why I like to see games in person – the thing that impresses me is just the way (Skalitzky) runs. He really is fast. So that creates a whole other set of problems because it’s hard enough to defend the receivers, but when you got to defend him running – that makes it really tough. But that’s what impressed me the most.”
