Football previews: Northwest, Week 5
EAST SUBURBAN CATHOLIC
Marian Catholic (2-2, 0-2) at St. Viator (3-1, 1-1)
When: 7:30 p.m. today at Forest View Educational Center
Last week: Marian lost to Nazareth 27-7; St. Viator lost to Benet 25-23
Outlook: The Lions get a chance to show they learned a harsh lesson as they had 91 yards in penalties and played what coach Chris Kirkpatrick called "uncharacteristic football" in Benet's first win of the season. "It's like my mama used to say, we got too big for our own britches," Kirkpatrick said. "We got put in our place and we're just trying to get better. The bottom line is I didn't have the kids ready to play. That falls on me and I'll take responsibility for it." Mike Landuyt and QB Eric Huber combined to rush for 314 yards with Huber scoring 3 TDs last week. The big challenge for the Lions' defense will be RB Malcolm Allen (560 yards, 5 TDs), who had his second 179-yard game last week. Marian, which handed Viator its only ESCC loss last year 36-34 and leads the series 11-2, also lost 28-7 to Carmel two weeks ago. "I hate to play somebody when their back is against the wall -- they fight, scratch and claw," Kirkpatrick said. "We have to play with the same mentality. We've got to play better to have an opportunity to win. If we play like we did last week it'll be a blowout."
WEST SUBURBAN GOLD
Willowbrook (3-1, 1-1) at Leyden (3-1, 2-0)
When: 7:30 p.m. today at West Campus, Northlake
Last week: Willowbrook lost to Downers Grove South 49-14; Leyden d. Morton 27-14
Outlook: Leyden has already surpassed its overall and WSC Gold win totals from each of the last two seasons. Now the Eagles get a Willowbrook team that made a brief appearance in the 7A state rankings before losing to division favorite Downers South. "I don't think we played as well as we could have against Morton," Leyden coach Tom Cerasani said of a game his team led 27-0 into the final minutes. "Obviously it was good enough to get the job done, but we'll have to play a lot better to beat Willowbrook." But it would be tough to get much more out of senior two-way standout Josh Serrano, who rushed for 201 yards last week and has 621 and 8 TDs for the season, and has 23 tackles and 2 sacks. "Game by game he's getting better at defense, too," Cerasani said. "Now he's just getting into game shape and he's able to play really well on both sides of the ball. He doesn't take a play off." Cerasani hopes his passing game with QB Tim O'Connell and WR Sam Cochiaro can get turned on to keep the Warriors from loading up against Serrano and Angel Maldonado. "They play a lot of man coverage," Cerasani said. "If they do that all game we've got to make them pay for it." Willowbrook hopes to have standout WR Milton Colbert and two-way lineman Alberto Estrada back after they were banged up last week.