Football is back, baby. The Marshall Cardinals enter 2024 looking to claim their fifth consecutive Eastern Suburban Conference title. Before they begin that hunt, though, they’ll play a pair of non-conference road games to warm up.
Marshall scheduled very aggressively to challenge itself outside of Eastern Suburban competition. Things kick off on Thursday, Aug. 22 with a trip to Johnson Creek. A week later, the Cardinals will again hit the road for a non-conference showdown with Lake Mills on Thursday, Aug. 29.
Starting with Johnson Creek is nothing new for Marshall, though. The Cardinals opened the last two season against the Bluejays, too. Marshall whomped them 42-20 back in 2022 and won in similarly dominant fashion last fall, 46-28.
Last season’s Johnson Creek game was a “welcome to the show” performance for then-sophomore quarterback Brady Kleinheinz. In his first varsity start, he needed only six completions to throw for 187 yards and three touchdowns. Then-junior receiver Max Timpel was a big help, catching four of those passes for 145 yards and two of the touchdowns. Defensively, Timpel also forced a fumble while then-junior cornerback Jose Ayala-Stantacruz nabbed an interception in the 18-point victory.
That 2023 edition of Johnson Creek turned out to be one of the best in all of Division 7, however. That loss was the final one the Bluejays would take in the regular season. They tore through the Trailways conference as the undefeated champion. Even the league runner-up, Randolph, couldn’t measure up to Johnson Creek in a 62-36 loss. No team for the remainder of the regular season kept a game with the Bluejays closer than a 22-point loss.
This dominance earned Johnson Creek the No. 2 seed in Division 7 for the 2023 Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) state tournament. No. 7 seed Ithaca gave the Bluejays a scare in Level 1, but they advanced with a narrow 36-30 win. The run ended the next week as they ran into a buzzsaw in No. 3 seed Black Hawk/Warren (Ill.). The visiting Warriors would earn a 48-20 win before marching all the way to the Division 7 state title game, eventually losing to champion Edgar.
This season, Johnson Creek is listed as the No. 14 team in Division 7 of the wissports.net preseason rankings. This comes despite the Bluejays being hit hard by graduation in the offseason.
Most notably, Johnson Creek loses Dylan Bredlow and Cole Schwartz. Bredlow was named the Tailways Offensive Player of the Year last fall and was first team all-conference as both a quarterback and defensive back. Schwartz doubled as Offensive and Defensive Lineman of the Year in the Trailways to go along with his pair of first team all-conference honors. In total, Johnson Creek loses 13 all-conference selections among myriad two-way players.
The Bluejays are still far from a pushover, though. Reigning Trailways Defensive Player of the Year Tanner Herman is back this season after nabbing a team-high seven interceptions last season, one of which he returned for a touchdown. Herman is also a special teams wizard, serving as both the team’s top kick returner and kicker last fall. He returned a team-high 19 kicks for 249 yards last fall and also made 55 of his 63 extra point attempts to go along with four makes on five field goal attempts.
Defense as a whole should be Johnson Creek’s calling card this season. The Bluejays also return second team all-conference defensive lineman Edin Martinez, who recorded three sacks and eight tackles for loss last season along with a forced fumble. Junior defensive back Luke Hartz is back after an honorable mention all-conference season thanks to his two interceptions and 30 total tackles. Another top tackler, junior linebacker Owen Blakey, is back after recording 47 total, including five for loss, last fall.
As for Marshall, while the Cardinals were not ranked in the wissports.net preseason top-15 in Division 6, they were listed as a team to watch. Marshall will undoubtedly have a leg up in varsity experience, but many of those top contributors are being asked to play both offense and defense. Conditioning in the heat of a late August matchup could come into play.
The 2024 season will kick off at 7 PM on Thursday, Aug. 22 at Johnson Creek High School.
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