CONFERENCE: Mid-States Football Association Midwest League
HEAD COACH: Mike Feminis
2023 RECORD: 8-4
OUTLOOK: If the conference coaches are correct, the battle for supremacy in the Mid-States Football Association Midwest League is wide open.
Marian was voted the preseason top team with 21 points and three first-place votes, while Saint Xavier was second with 20 points and one first-place vote. St. Francis (Joliet) was third with 19 points and two first-place votes
Quarterback Stuart Ross is back for his fifth year, and the Springfield native could leave SXU as the program’s all-time leader in passing yards. He is currently sixth on the list with 7,174 yards and is bearing down on Anthony Kropp, who threw for 9,307 from 2007-2010.
On defense, fifth-year senior defensive back Kevin Countryman already owns the school record for interceptions returned for a touchdown with three and is second on the team list in interception return yards with 241. Jabob Ghinazzi is first with 323 from 2010-2013.
DID YOU KNOW? The Cougars have racked up 23 winning seasons in the last 24 campaigns.
—Jeff Vorva
SCHEDULE
Sept. 7 @Lawrence Tech, noon
Sept 14 St. Thomas, noon
Sept. 21 @Madonna, noon
Sept. 28 Concordia (Mich.) 6:30
Oct. 5 @Indiana Wesleyan, 11 a.m.
Oct. 12 Defiance College, noon
Oct. 19 St. Francis (Illinois), noon
Oct. 26 @Olivet Nazarene, 1 p.m.
Nov. 2 Marian (Indiana), noon
Nov. 9 @St. Francis (Indiana), noon
Nov. 16 Judson, noon