The Times Week 7 Football Notebook: Marquette’s run game continues to thrive; FCW solid on third downs

Here’s more from Week 7 across The Times coverage area.

Marquette run game powering up

Marquette coach Tom Jobst alluded to “the light” that went on at halftime of the Week 4 win over Dwight/Gardner-South Wilmington, and the statistics bear that improvement out.

For the first 14 quarters of the season in games against Aurora Christian, Madison, Seneca and the first half of the Dwight contest, the Crusaders averaged a respectable 58 yards rushing per quarter, a number somewhat inflated by a lopsided win against Madison in Week 2.

In the 10 quarters since, Marquette has posted 78.1 yards rushing per quarter, in the latter half against the Trojans, St. Bede and most recently against Aurora Central Catholic.

Much of the ground work has been put in by Grant Dose (33 carries, 291 yards, 7 TDs), Payton Gutierrez (25-188-1) and Jaxsen Higgins (12-149-2).

Seneca’s end-of-season tests

While a Week 7 forfeit bye wasn’t in the plan for Seneca, they ultimately accepted one from Walther Christian to move to 7-0.

While they missed out on an opportunity to play, the Irish do close out the regular season with a pair of nice tests to get ready for the playoffs. Seneca hosts rival Marquette (5-2) this Friday in a rematch from the Irish’s 48-13 Week 3 win over the Crusaders, and then hosts Durand-Pecatonica (6-1) to close out the regular season.

All three project to be playoff teams with Seneca and Du-Pec toward the top of the Class 2A/3A projections in terms of seeding.

Munson’s quietly solid season

While neither Week 7′s 59-0 shutout against Morris or the team’s 1-6 record are what Ottawa was hoping for, junior QB Mark Munson has quietly been putting together a solid season for the Pirates.

On the season, Munson is 53-of-92 passing for 672 yards, three touchdowns (including a 73-yarder to Jace Veith) and three interceptions.

Munson has spread those passes around to Owen Sanders (13 receptions, 242 yards), Weston Averkamp (13 catches, 149 yards) and Andrew Vercolio (16 receptions, 142 yards.

The passing game has been needed, too, as the Pirates rushing game has been averaging just 3.4 yards per carry.

FCW strong on third down

More and more, third-down success both offensively and defensively has become recognized as a key indicator whether a team is doing well in a game or not so well.

Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland was doing very well in Friday’s 41-26 upset of previously undefeated eight-man team West Central in Biggsville.

According to statistics kept by The Hawk Eye reporter Matt Levins, FCW’s offense was 10 of 14 converting third downs. West Central was 0 for 5.

The Falcons (5-2) will try to keep it going in Week 8 when they visit Ridgewood (6-1), which defeated them 30-7 in Week 3.

Moton has very good return game

Despite Streator struggling in Friday’s 52-14 loss at Peotone, Bulldogs sophomore kickoff returner LA Moton helped the special teams unit put together a pretty good outing.

Moton returned six kickoffs for 168 yards or 28 yards per attempt. His first chance of the night gave Streator great starting field position at its own 43 on its opening possession, which eventually turned into the first of two touchdown passes from Isaiah Weibel to Matt Williamson. Moton had a long of 42 on a third-quarter return that helped lead to the second Weibel-to-Williamson score.

All told, Moton’s returns had Streator starting drives at about its own 38.