ALTON - Marquette Catholic's football team didn't have the start to the season first-year coach Darrell Angleton would have liked.
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But the Explorers quickly righted the ship once they got into the Prairie State Conference portion of their schedule, and now they could be on the verge of something big.
Marquette (3-2 overall, 3-0 PSC) travels to Pawnee (4-1, 3-0 PSC) for the Indians' Homecoming game at 1 p.m. Saturday. But much more is at stake as well – the winner of Saturday's clash could well win the PSC championship.
“It'll be a big one,” Angleton said. “The boys have worked really hard and they'll be up for it. I think it's going to be a great game.”
Pawnee's style of football can be described as old-school; the Indians run a double-wing offense that dates back to some of the earliest days of American football. It's an offense that provides some unique challenges to teams defending it.
“You have to prepare for the offense they run in a much different way than you would against other offenses,” Angleton said. “It developed from a single-wing and then the wing-T many years ago.
“Getting ready for it is a challenge. They'll pull two or three linemen every play and you have to get the angles on them if you want to be successful against it.”
It's certainly an efficient system; their leading rusher, Austin Galloway, has 324 yards on the ground with seven touchdowns in 2015. Other leading rushers include Jordan Hampton (246 yards, one touchdown) and Clay Winks (153 yards, two touchdowns). Unlike most double-wing teams, they will throw the ball at times; their leading receiver is Garrett Gillette, who has six receptions for 171 yards and four touchdowns. The Indians' quarterback, Dane Moats, has thrown for 348 yards and five touchdowns on the season.
“On defense, they like to run a 3-3 stack and they like to blitz a lot,” Angleton said.
Marquette is led by quarterback Trey Aguirre, who has 759 yards in the air and six touchdowns. He'll rely on Jesse Simmons (28 receptions, 402 yards, five touchdowns), D'Avion Peebles (259 yards on the ground with three touchdowns) and Brady McAfee (10 catches for 135 yards and 147 yards on the ground with two touchdowns while making 41 tackles at linebacker) to get their offense going.
“The kids understand the magnitude of the game,” Angleton said. “We'll need to focus on our reads and stay disciplined against their offense; they'll have four or five people at the point of attack and we'll need to be aware of it.
“It's a 90-minute drive up there, so I hope we'll have some of our fans make the trip and support us. We're really looking forward to the challenge.”
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