Benet (6-2, 4-2 East Suburban Catholic) @ Marian Catholic (1-7, 0-6 East Suburban Catholic)
Last week: Benet beat Joliet Catholic, 24-21; Marian Catholic lost to Notre Dame, 50-13
Storyline: Officially in the Class 7A postseason field after upsetting Joliet Catholic, Benet heads to Marian Catholic hoping to secure a first-round home game.
Junior quarterback Jack Sznajder completed 27 of his 39 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns against the Hilltoppers as the Redwings beat the Hilltoppers for the first time since 2012.
Alec McEachern’s two interceptions and Erik Jones’ two fumble recoveries highlighted a night the Benet defense forced four turnovers and forced the Joliet Catholic offense to also committing four turnover on downs.
McEachern was one of three Redwings, along with Will O’Grady and Charlie Weidenbach, to catch touchdown passes from Sznajder – who completed passes to eight receivers.
Marian Catholic has lost their last seven games after opening up the year with a 42-8 victory over Urban Prep/Englewood.
Held to nine points or fewer offensively five times this season, the Spartans have scored in double figures twice since Week 1 – 16 points in a Week 3 loss to Marian Central Catholic and the 13 points last week against Notre Dame.
Benet coach Pat New on Marian Catholic: “They’ve played a real difficult schedule. Of those seven losses, I think six of them are playoff teams. So they’ve really gone through a gauntlet of tough teams and probably had the toughest schedule in the ESCC. That being said, Jerry Verde’s their coach – it was just a couple years won a state championship with Crete-Monee – so I know he knows what he’s doing and I know they’ve had some success at the younger levels. They’re a pretty athletic team that plays a lot of high-pressure defense and then – on offense – spreads it out and does a lot of creative things on offense.”
