Week 4: Scouting the East Suburban Catholic

Benet (2-1, 1-0) at St. Viator (2-1, 1-0) East Suburban Catholic Conference

Game time: 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Last week: Benet 27, Marian Central 0; St. Viator 51, Marian Catholic 14.

Last year: Benet 33, St. Viator 14.

Outlook: Look at the scores last week and you'll see the challenge. Can Benet's defense, fresh off its first shutout of the season, contain the Lions' surging offense? They have an experienced quarterback in Bryce Hellgeth, a dual-threat athlete with big targets in the passing game. He's part of a three-pronged running attack featuring backs Jack Scislowski and Elijah Black. Last week Benet's defense showed the ability to defend the run and pass. Ben Cooney and Connor Reid each had two of the team's 5 interceptions while linebackers Mike Wymer and Devin Petersen continued to lead the run defense. Like Hellgeth, Benet quarterback Matt Boyle has the ability to control the offense on the ground and in the air. And, like Hellgeth, Boyle has quality targets in Nick Keyes and 6-foot-7 Jack Eschenbach. With St. Viator's defensive line featuring starters on the offensive line, expect the Redwings' offense to be extremely fast-paced.

Next week: Benet at Nazareth; Carmel at St. Viator.

Nazareth Roadrunners (3-0, 1-0) at Carmel Corsairs (0-3, 0-1)When: 7:30 p.m., today

Last week: Nazareth def. Notre Dame, 28-15; Carmel lost to Marist, 45-14.

Skinny: Technically, Nazareth has earned two straight wins. Its Week 1 win over Dunbar was a forfeit win. Since then, the Roadrunners have gotten a 28-0 shutout of De La Salle and last week's big win over Notre Dame. Meanwhile, Carmel opened with a bear of a schedule, against three straight teams that head coach Andy Bitto believes can make deep playoff runs, Richards, DeKalb and Marist. All three of those teams went to the playoffs last year ... Nazareth quickly went up 14-0 last week on Notre Dame but saw that lead turn into a 15-14 deficit at halftime. Devin Blakley got the Roadrunners back on track after the break by returning the opening kickoff of the second half 46 yards. Three plays later, quarterback Zach Stevens hit Diamond Evans with a 26-yard touchdown pass. Stevens (5-of-10, 52 yards) splits time at quarterback with Bobby Grimes (9-of-16, 101 yards). Grimes also had a touchdown pass for Nazareth ... Carmel is hoping to get healthy. Last week, the Corsairs were down two of their top running backs in Zaire Barnes and Sean Lynch as well as defensive lineman Jalen Snell. But reserve running back Mikey Lucas came up with 108 yards on 15 carries ... Carmel freshman quarterback Athan Kalikmanis also continues with his steep learning curve. Last week, he had 2 touchdown passes, including one to his brother Dino ... Last year, Carmel defeated Nazareth 21-10.