Catholic Memorial’s 35-8 win over Wauwatosa West on Friday night elicits an obvious question for the Crusaders:
What should have you more excited, the way your defense is playing or the potential of sophomore Corey Smith?
The beauty of the question is that there is no wrong answer. The two facets of the Crusaders’ play shined in a convincing victory at Carroll University’s Schneider Stadium in a game that was one of the most anticipated in the state for Week 6.
On the field, however, Memorial, ranked second in the area by the Journal Sentinel, dominated No. 10 Tosa West to the point that the game was played with a running clock for the final 11 minutes. The Crusaders improved to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the Parkland. The Trojans dropped to 5-1 and 3-1.
More:Wisconsin high school football scores for Friday, Sept. 24, 2021
More:Three top-10 teams are knocked off, plus other highlights from Week 6 of high school football in the Milwaukee area
Here is a look at the principle figures in that outcome.
Smith: The 6-foot, 175 pound back had the best game of his young career, running 13 times for 201 yards and scoring touchdowns of 5, 48, 60 and 62 yards. The performance raised his already gaudy average yards per carry from 14.1 to 14.5.
A member of the 800-meter relay team that placed third at the Division 2 state meet last spring, Smith showed such a burst he was almost untouched on his long scoring runs. His 60-yard run with 7 minutes 41 seconds left in the second quarter was the first sign that the rout was on.
Smith does have the benefit of playing behind a veteran line and an experienced quarterback, but the performance highlighted the fact that Crusaders have a young talent the Parkland won’t be rid of any time soon.
“Corey Smith is an absolute stud,” Memorial coach Bill Young said. “He’s a jet. … He’ a big-time player.”
Defense: Tosa West entered play averaging 47 points and 529 rushing yards per game. The Power T offense the Trojans run is can be hard for defenses to read, but they hadn’t come close to facing an opponent of Memorial’s caliber.
The Crusaders held Tosa West to 226 yards in 39 carries and, with the exception of a long run in each half, never allowed any big plays.
Senior defensive back Charlie Jarvis made a team-high 7½ tackles for the Crusaders. Langston Latham, a senior linebacker added six and a forced fumble.
Young spent a lot of time preparing for the game and it showed.
“Coach (Andy) Kolstad has done a terrific job over there,” Young said. “Their kids are big, physical and tough, but I’ve been on this one for over a year. Our prep was outstanding.”
The victory was likely the final hurdle on the way to an undefeated regular season. Memorial final three games are against Milwaukee Lutheran (1-3 Parkland), Wauwatosa East (2-2) and Pius XI (0-4).
Here are four other takeaways from the week.
Muskego’s fresh start
We’ll have to wait weeks to know for sure, Muskego appeared to clear a significant hurdle Friday.
Its 53-49 win over Arrowhead at home was an offensive explosion in which the Warriors rallied from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit to win.
The moment had a fork-in-the-road feel to it, as if the team could have fallen out of title contention in the Classic 8 given its loss to Oconomowoc a week earlier that ended a 41-game winning streak. Instead, Muskego scored three touchdowns in the final 6 minutes to grab a share of the Classic 8 lead with Arrowhead and Mukwonago. A fourth straight conference title is within reach, perhaps even a fourth straight outright title, which would a first in league history..
“There’s been so much pressure on our kids, I just told them to enjoy the moment,” Warriors coach Ken Krause said. “That’s all we kept talking about on the sidelines. It was a crazy game and we just had to stay positive.
“As silly as it sounds, I think that there was a little bit of we can take a breath now. I think the players were feeling some pressure. Now we can just focus on one game at a time. (The winning streak) is over. After our last game all our goals are still in front of us. Now it’s get one more game, make the playoffs. It’s back to that. “
Jerry Cross gives Milwaukee King boost
Not only did Milwaukee King take control of the City Richardson Division race with a 17-6 win over Milwaukee Riverside, but it welcomed back one of the state’s top payers.
Senior receiver Jerry Cross, a Penn State recruit who was expected to miss the season due to injury, played and caught one pass for 39 yards.
His return provides an obvious boost for a King offense that has struggled to move the ball and put points on the board at times. Cross, meanwhile, has a chance to get some live reps before moving on to the Big Ten. Don’t forget, the last time we saw him on the field was his sophomore season.
Germantown’s wall of resistance
Germantown tightened the Greater Metro race with its 20-17 victory at home over previously undefeated Brookfield East that was aided by the return of quarterback Henry Kelley. The junior, who missed the past three games, completed 19 of 29 passes for 237 yards and his modest 36 rushing yards were the team high.
The developing story for the Warhawks, however, is on the other side of the ball and it’s one that could bode well for their prospects the rest of the season.
The team held East to 62 rushing yards. Germantown’s GMC opponents are averaging 50 rushing yards per game and 2 yards per carry. None of Germantown’s Greater Metro opponents have run for more than 100 yards. It’s a strength that could pay off as the weather starts to turn and passing becomes more difficult.
Hartford sets the stage
Hartford needed overtime but scored a 33-27 victory at Nicolet on Friday to set the stage for a two-week run that will define the team’s regular season.
The Orioles face Homestead on Friday and Whitefish Bay in Week 8. Those two teams are directly behind Hartford (5-1, 4-0) in the North Shore Conference standings.
Hartford’s M.O. remained the same against Nicolet. The Orioles produced two 100-yard rushers for the third time in four league games; AJ Pepin ran 21 times for 196 and Quinten Hornada had 15 carries for 111 yards. They also reached 300 rushing yards for the third time in four games.
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