The countdown can officially stop because it’s Thursday August 17th which means the Football season beginning in the WIAA. As a Sports broadcaster, this is my favorite time of the year and I am very excited to kick things off this Friday with a big matchup as the Franklin Sabers travel to take on the Catholic Memorial Crusaders.
What To Expect From This Matchup
These are two teams that are both ranked high up in their Division with Franklin being around the top 15 and on the teams to watch list in Division 1, while Catholic Memorial is coming off of a Division 4 state runner-up season and the #1 ranked team coming into the 2023 season. Last year’s matchup was just as hyped as everyone thought it was going to be, the reigning Division 1 State Champions(Franklin Sabers) vs the reigning Division 4 State Champions(Catholic Memorial) going back and forth which eventually ended up with the Crusaders overpowering the run game lead by the speedy Corey Smith to defeat the Sabers 34-28. Expect this game to be high-energy as both of these teams square off trying to make their mark at the beginning of a new season just as they did at the beginning of the 2022 season.
4 Players To Watch From The Franklin Sabers
QB: Joey Kallay- Joey is coming into his junior year ready to make his statement as he was the QB1 for most of the 2022 season after former Senior Boston Halloran went down with an injury week 3 that season that kept him out most of that year which gave Kallay a chance to prove himself and make a statement for the permanent QB1 job and he did just that. According to Wissports.net in 7 starts he had 1,206 passing yards, 9 passing touchdowns, and only 3 interceptions. Coming from a backup QB these are amazing stats and he filled that role in very well for a team coming off a state title the year before as the Sabers finished 6-1 with Kallay at QB1. He is now the permanent Starter for Louis Browns Offense this season and has high expectations to come starting this Friday against the very talented Catholic Memorial.
RB: Terrance Shelton- The Buffalo Bulls commit is looking to finish his senior season with a bang before he heads off to college. Shelton is coming into his 3rd and final year as a varsity starter at running back and is poised to help this team earn a state title just like how it was in 2021. His stats were at a career high last year as he rushed for 1,036 yards, and 19 touchdowns in 11 games. He starts his senior year in a showdown with the best of the best in Senior running back Corey Smith of Catholic Memorial who is committed to Penn State. It will be a fun game to watch these two go at it on Friday night to kickoff a new season.
WR: Jacques Brooks- Jacques is a senior going into his 3rd season as a varsity starter and is the WR1 coming into the 2023 season. Brooks was a crucial player during the state championship run in 2021 as he had 501 receiving yards including some spectacular plays like the Hail Mary game winner week one against the Appleton North Lightning which was thrown from Former Sabers QB now Wisconsin Badgers Backup Myles Burkett. Jacques had a career year last fall as he received for 703 yards in his junior season which solidified him as the WR1 going into his senior year. Brooks is not shy when it comes to big moments in big games so he will be one of the big guys to watch for this Friday as QB1 Joey Kallay will be relying on him a bunch in a big game against the strong Catholic Memorial Defense.
DB: Manny Joseph- Every team has a defensive juggernaut and I believe that the Sabers got a good one in Manny Joseph. 2022 was a year to remember for the DB as he had 42 TCK, along with 19 Tackles for loss, 4.0 sacks, and 2 interceptions. Their is a lot to put on the stats sheet for Joseph because he can do it all out on the field. He will have to put his skills to the test and lead their defense Friday against Catholic Memorial as he will have to deal with trying to stop their heavy run game.
4 Players To Watch From The Catholic Memorial Crusaders
RB: Corey Smith- One of the biggest names in the WIAA this football season the Penn State commit is looking to have an even bigger 2023 season from a spectacular junior year. The junior ran for 1,304 rushing yards 26 rushing touchdowns, and even had 357 receiving yards to top it all off. Smith now a senior is going to try to electrify crowds with his speed as he has been named the fastest High school running back in the country according to VNN Sports. Along with being the fastest RB in the country Smith is also a 4 star prospect in the nation and is ranked #3 in his class for best player in Wisconsin by 247 Sports.
OT: Donovan Harbour- How about another Penn State commitment but this time by an offensive tackle. An exciting time to be a fan of the Crusaders as you have two Big Ten Commits on the same team and Harbour is ranked a 4 star as well by 247 Sports. The 6-3 Offensive linemen uses his size very well but it will be interesting to see how he fits into the rotation for more of the year as he only appeared in 2 games last season but he made them count. He will get put to the test Friday by an above average Franklin Sabers defense, and will be interesting to see if he can help out Corey Smith run the football and protecting his QB MJ Mitchell.
OT: Owen Strebig- Another Offensive linemen makes this list and Owen Strebig is another big lineman that can help block for this well-shaped Catholic Memorial offense. Coming in at 6-8 and 295lbs Strebig is a 4 star junior that has multiple offers from Big Ten schools such as Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa, as well as Florida in the SEC, and Florida St in the ACC. What makes Strebig really good is his size and expect him to keep using that to an advantage against the Sabers to kick their season off.
QB: MJ Mitchell- Coming off of a year at Backup quarterback MJ Mitchell will get the spot at QB1 for the 2023 season as former starting QB Isaiah Nathaniel has graduated. The Junior got a good amount of reps for his sophomore year at backup but it mainly came for rushing yards in which he ran for 426 yards and 8 rushing touchdowns. Last year Mitchell only got the “garbage time minutes” which was when the game didn’t matter and he only threw 12 attempts all season, meanwhile former starting QB for the Crusaders Isaiah Nathaniel threw for 19 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions in 14 games. He did all of that while Corey Smith was still out running his defenders and becoming a rising star. He can definitely use his running skills to a big ability in the 2023 season but they are already high powered at the running back position with Corey Smith but since Mitchell has two more years left it gives him time to develop and get better at the quarterback position.
Dual Between Two Veteran Coaches
This matchup brings two head coaches that have a really good resume to open up the season. First Franklin’s coach Louis Brown is going into his 13th year at head coach with a career record of 130-24 which is unbelievable to keep a consistency of losing 3 or less games every year with him as the coach. Brown has made 3 D1 state championship appearances as head coach and won one out of three appearances which came recently in 2021. Catholic Memorials coach Bill Young has a record of 392-121 all time according to MaxPreps and is a very winning coach with 9 state titles all time, and just last year they lost to Columbus in the Division 4 State Championship game.
Details On Game (How To Watch,Time)
If you are wanting to watch this matchup in-person the game will be played at a neutral site Waukesha South High School at 7pm CT. If you can’t make it feel free to listen to me and Matt Peck’s live broadcast on MaxPreps at the same time. https://www.maxpreps.com/news/tRnt6iyDp0misQgjOy20wg/listen-live-friday-franklin-at-catholic-memorial.htm