History says Marquette will be challenged by Dakota in second round of 1A playoffs

The Marquette football program has been an independent for the past four seasons now, although that’s apparently going to change soon with the announcement of a new football conference being formed with fellow locals Seneca, Dwight and St. Bede also involved.

Still, the Crusaders have been in a postseason relationship with the Northwest Upstate Illinois Conference that not many have noticed. It’s a kinship that will be rekindled at 1 p.m. Saturday.

After its first-round, 20-6 win over Morrison, Marquette (9-1) will visit a Dakota program from the very league that’s been a thorn in in the locals’ side for several years.

Since the 2012 season, coach Tom Jobst’s clubs have taken on an NUIC team in the playoffs 12 times with so-so results, going 4-8, including a 1-1 mark against the Indians.

The Cru won 26-20 in 2016 and lost 14-12 in 2018, but won a regular-season matchup 42-22 last fall at Gould Stadium.

“I always joke around and say this is the NUIC portion of our schedule, that they’ve always been like a second conference for us,” Jobst said with a chuckle. “Neither has any secrets from the other. We know each other so well. … Dakota’s always been tough, playing a smash-mouth brand of ball, something you have to play if you’re going to exist in that conference. They have also opened things up a little offensively, so we’ll have to be ready for both.”

Under first-year coach Dan Sheets, the Indians have gone from 2-7 in 2021 to 6-4, with three of their four losses coming to playoff-bound Lena-Winslow, Durand-Pecatonica and Fulton. The other hiccup was a 40-36 loss to 3-6 Lanark Eastland, while their only wins over teams with winning marks were a 34-28 verdict over 5-4 Forreston and last week’s 16-14 win over 7-3 Iroquois West.

Dakota still has its traditional hard-running style behind speedy senior back Adrian Arellano (74 carries, 727 yards, seven TDs) and 6-1, 200 senior fullback Thomas Bowman (112-497-10) and a line led by senior center Jake Taylor and first-year junior (and state champion wrestler) Noah Wenzel.

But since a 49-0 loss to Lena-Winslow in Week 2, it “found some things and built off that,” the coach said. Quarterback Kaiden Neidermeier, a 6-2, 170-pound senior who has rushed for 260 yards and five scores, has thrown for 1,029 yards and 13 TDs with 10 interceptions. His favorite targets are Arellano (25 catches, 585 yards, 10 TDs) and 6-2, 190 senior WR Tug Dornick (30-367-1).

Their play has allowed them to score 36.8 points a game, although the defense had surrendered 28.3 a contest.

“We definitely have to play better than we did last week,” Sheets said. “We didn’t come out of the gate very strong, had penalties and turnovers that were uncharacteristic of us. Once we clean that stuff up, we’ll be in better shape. … but while Lena-Winslow runs some wing-T, Marquette is a true wing-T team and has some pretty talented kids running it. The fullback [Jurnee Reed] is tough, No. 5 [Tommy Durdan] is a good back, and they can throw out of their play-action.

“This is definitely gonna be a challenge for us.”

Marquette can’t afford to take the first half off like it did against Morrison, netting 70 yards and trailing 6-0 at the half before exploding for TDs by Reed and Durdan in the third quarter.

“Walking down to the field after halftime, I could already feel the intensity. The whole field was different, excited, so it was kind of neat to come in late,” said Jobst, whose club was flagged 15 yards for missing the three-minute pre-second half warning. “If I knew what it was, we’d take that 15 yards every week.

“But that has to change. You can talk until you’re blue in the face, but until the guys understand for themselves that you have to come to play from the start, it won’t help. You have to be focused, and Morrison was, but we were focused in the second half.”