Marquette faces Madison in Week 2 of the 2024 IHSA football season. Friday Night Drive reporter Charlie Ellerbrock will have live updates, scores and news from the game.
What to know
Marquette vs. Madison kickoff: 7 p.m.
Where: Madison High School
About the Crusaders: While the repeatedly proposed IHSA takeover of scheduling and the elimination of football conferences and self-scheduling has its faults and detractors, the reasons for matchups like this one are hard to justify. Marquette Academy is set to travel 234 miles – one way – to face Madison, with the Cru in search of their first win of the season after last week’s competitive 24-19 home loss to Aurora Christian. While not the final result Marquette was looking for, it was an encouraging season opener much closer than 2023′s with Aurora Christian, one that featured a pair of Anthony Couch-to-Keaton Davis touchdown passes and 281 yards from scrimmage. A few big plays allowed on defense proved fatal last week and no doubt is something the Cru has spent this week working on cleaning up ahead of the long road trip.
About the Trojans: An independent with no conference home, Madison won an absolute shootout in Week 1, 64-50 over Sparta/Steeleville. Those 64 points are not typical of recent Trojans teams, as Madison broke 30 points only once last season and 20 only one other time, averaging 13.9 per game. The 50 points allowed, unfortunately for the Trojans, was pretty typical of last year’s team, which surrendered 44 or more in eight of nine games during a 1-8 season. The program is not without recent success, however, making the Class 1A playoffs in 2022 – current head coach/Madison graduate Tavares Young’s first season at the helm – and in back-to-back seasons in 2017 and 2018. Before that, Madison has only one playoff appearance, making the 3A field in 1987.
Friday Night Drive pick: Marquette
Postgame analysis:
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