:quality(70):focal(495x305:505x315)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/SXTNM2YGWHUVBB7GLL6GFEN2RI.jpg)
The formation of the new Chicagoland Prairie Conference for the upcoming football season brings with it a renewal of rivalry games for Marquette Academy and Seneca, as well as games for each against St. Bede Academy.
The Crusaders, Fighting Irish and Bruins are part of the league that will feature Dwight, Elmwood Park, Walther Christian, Ridgewood and Westmont.
“To be honest, many of the conference teams we are going to play this season we don’t know much about right now,” Marquette head coach Tom Jobst said. “We played Dwight [Week 1 of 2019] a number of seasons ago and Westmont [Week 2 of 2015] I believe even further back than that. We know a little about Seneca and St. Bede just because of how close they are, but even with those teams we are going to have to check out video and come up with gameplans when those weeks come around.”
Marquette will host Seneca and St. Bede respectively in Weeks 7 and 8 before playing at Dwight to finish the regular season. The Crusaders and Irish last met in Week 2 of the 2019 season, while MA last played SBA in Week 6 of the 2011 campaign when both schools were in the old Big Rivers Conference.
“Really, with us playing an independent schedule the last couple of years, to the challenge of facing new teams isn’t something that new for us,” Jobst said. “For us, the first week of official practice will be working on our own stuff, and from there we’ll start going over and preparing for Week 1 against Aurora Christian. The games with Dwight, Seneca and St. Bede are in the final three weeks, and we’ll prepare when they get here, but you can’t get to Weeks 7-9 without going through 1-6 first.
Marquette finished 9-2 in 2022 and earned a 10th consecutive trip to the playoffs, falling in the Class 1A second round to Dakota. The Crusaders have played an independent schedule the past couple of seasons after the Northeastern Athletic Conference, which they joined in 2013, folded after 2019 season.
“When our schedule came out everyone was talking about those two games ... and why not,” Marquette senior center Stefen Swords said. “Our schools have big rivalries in all the other sports and this year football is going to be a part of that. Our team, especially the senior class, has been given a great opportunity this year to be able to play against those two schools and both on our home field.
“You’re right, those games are toward the end of the regular season, and we have games before that we have to get and be prepared for, but those two games are going to be really fun games to play in.”
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/JUZEMQXRN4H7FSOAKZOD6HOQUQ.jpg)
Seneca put together a magical fall, completing the regular season without a loss, claiming its third playoff berth since 2002 and earning the most wins in a season (10) for the program since 2000.
The Fighting Irish also were the Vermilion Valley Football Alliance North champions.
Seneca celebrated its first trip to the postseason since 2019 with a 48-20 victory over Winnebago in a Class 3A opener but lost the next week to Byron.
Seneca and St. Bede faced each other from 1991-1996 with the Irish winning all six games, two in overtime. The Irish will also be facing Westmont for the first time since 2018 when they were members of the old Interstate 8 Conference.
“It’s exciting for us for sure,” Maxwell said. “We are getting to keep our rivalry with Dwight, while also adding games with Marquette and St. Bede, which are schools most of the guys already have rivalries with in other sports. Then there is the challenge of the new teams we’ll face. We’ve started the process of finding video online and getting an idea of what these new opponents are going to try and do.”