SIAC Week 1 Recap & Week 2 Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>An excellent start to the 2023 SIAC season. FJ Reitz continues to dominate the conference as they did last season. A long drive at the end of the game decided the result of the Castle Evansville North Game. Evansville Memorial shuts down Jasper at home. Evansville Mater Dei takes care of Evansville Central. The Vincennes Lincoln and Evansville Bosse game was a shootout. Below are the final scores from Friday's games.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Evansville North 21 Castle 14</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>FJ Reitz 45 Evansville Harrison 0</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Evansville Memorial 30 Jasper 13</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Evansville Mater Dei 35 Evansville Central 12</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Vincennes Lincoln 49 Evansville Bosse 30</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">FJ Reitz Continues to Dominate</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Reitz started the season on the road against Harrison and the game was not close. The experienced OL lineman of [player_tooltip player_id='331134' first='Harlen' last='Summers'] and [player_tooltip player_id='703275' first='Quentin' last='Boeke'] created a clean pocket for Ben Davies. Davies was able to throw 2 TDs on Friday with ease. On the receiving end, 2024 WR [player_tooltip player_id='322410' first='Hayden' last='Summers'] had 4 receptions, 112 yards, and 2 TDs, proving why he will be a problem for opposing defenses. [player_tooltip player_id='290469' first='Roland' last='Vera Jr']. is a 2024 athlete that threw a TD, caught a TD, and had a rushing TD on Friday night. Reitz returns home to play a red-hot Vincennes Lincoln offense led by Xander Hunt. Harrison will stay home and look to get on track against Jasper.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">A Battle in Paradise</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Evansville North got off to a 13-0 start against the Knights. The Huskies found themselves down in the 2nd half by 1 point and had a late score to win the season opener. The Huskies' offense was led by QB Sam McKinney who went 14/22 148 yards and 2 TDs. RB [player_tooltip player_id='259546' first='Cainen' last='Northington'] had himself a game for the Huskies rushing for 162 yards on 21 carries and having 1 rushing TD. The offensive line was led by senior [player_tooltip player_id='868489' first='Jayden' last='Hazelwood'] and junior [player_tooltip player_id='306939' first='Benjamin' last='Brasher'] who paved the way for Northington. Both defenses played well at times but the Evansville North won the night by holding the Castle offense to just 125 yards. North will be traveling to play Evansville Memorial and Castle will be looking to get their offense going as they battle Mater Dei at home.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Evansville Memorial Looking Strong</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Memorial started their season off with a victory against Jasper at home. The Memorial offense is led by 2025 QB Matthew Fisher who had 222 yards and 2 TDs. 2025 WR Luke Ellspermann was on the receiving end of Fisher's passes 9 times and had 127 yards. Jasper showed to have two legitimate ball carriers on Friday night. Caden Erny had 12 carries, 70 yards, and 2 TDs while also picking up 5 tackles on defense. 2024 RB [player_tooltip player_id='930631' first='Carter' last='Holsworth'] carried the rock 15 times and had 83 yards. [player_tooltip player_id='553142' first='Alex' last='Broshears'] is my defensive player of the week in the SIAC. Broshears had 12 solos, 4 assists, 16 total, and 2 TFLs. Memorial will stay at home and play a good Evansville North team. Jasper will look to get in the win column and play Evansville Harrison on the road.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Evansville Mater Dei Continues Their Winning Ways</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Reigning 2A State Champs Mater Dei picks up where they left off last season. There is a new QB at the helm for Mater Dei and Tate Mallory is a new name to get used to in the SIAC. Tate showed some glimpses of the talent he has and also showed his inexperience. Evansville Central played well in their first game with a new head coach. One name that showed up a lot was Jaiden Clark. Jaiden had 4 receptions, 148 yards, 1 TD, and an INT on defense. Mater Dei travels to Castle for Week 2 and Central is at home against Bosse.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Hunt, Vincennes Lincoln Dominants</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Vincennes lead 49-8 early in the 3rd quarter and that's because they dominated on both sides of the ball. 2022 SIAC Player of the Year Xander Hunt threw for 152 yards, 3 passing TDs, and 1 rushing TD. Xander looks like he is ready to take the SIAC by storm again this year. Quinten Butler for Vincennes had a great game on the defensive side of the ball with 6 tackles and 1 INT for a TD. The Vincennes defense looked to be flying around all night and will be fun to watch all season long. Bosse showed some athleticism with QB Elijah Wagner and his 14 carries for 130 yards and 2 TDs. Vincennes travels to play the defending SIAC champs and Bosse travels to play Evansville Central, both teams looking for win number one.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->