Football: Marian's Goal Is to Stop Being So Generous

Squaring off against a powerful Joliet Catholic Academy team Friday night, had little room for error. But errors are exactly what

Marian put the ball on the turf five times in the first half—including on its first four possession—and all of those turnovers led to JCA touchdowns.

“You can't give them the ball, you can't just turn it over,” Marian head coach Dave Mattio said.

Every time Marian (3-4) did turn the ball over, Hilltoppers running backs Ty Isaac and Malin Jones made the Spartans pay. Isaac and Jones combined for six touchdowns in the first half on rushes of 68, 2, 8, 13, 4 and 33 yards.

“They're a good football team and they've got two men (Isaac and Jones) playing against a lot of boys,” Mattio said.

It wasn't just the Spartans defense that had problems containing the Hilltoppers (6-1). Once again, Marian's special teams proved to be anything but special. Joliet Catholic blocked a Marian punt late in the second quarter to score a safety, and on the ensuing kickoff Isaac hauled in the kick at his own 38-yard line and raced untouched for a touchdown.

“Our special teams are just in shambles. We worked like hell for three weeks now,” Mattio said. “If I told you we spent time on six days over the course of the last three weeks, working on the kickoff team and we don't tackle, we don't move in space, we just don't seem to respond.”

Marian Catholic will try to right the ship when it hosts Notre Dame at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.