Game Notes at WashU

WAUKESHA, Wis. - Carroll's football team will wrap up their 2023 season this weekend, but not before taking on WashU in what will be the season finale for both teams. The Pioneers enter the weekend just one game back of WashU in the conference standings, meaning a Carroll win could vault them into fourth place in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) standings. A win would also give the Pios their sixth victory of the season, which would be the third consecutive season that they've accomplished that feat.

"Playing in a conference like the CCIW, we're going to have some ups-and-downs, but we played really well in most of our games and had a couple tough road losses," Carroll Head Football Coach Mike Budziszewski said. "There were a lot of positives that came out of the games we've played, and we're excited to finish strong with one more game this weekend."

Saturday will be just the fifth all-time meeting between these two teams, with the first coming in 2018. WashU leads the series 4-0, which includes a 37-7 win in Waukesha last season. This season's matchup features two teams in the top half of the CCIW in scoring. Carroll is averaging 37.9 points per game, which ranks fifth in the conference, while WashU is fourth, operating at a 38.3 ppg clip.

"WashU is a very good team that is well coached, so they'll have their team ready to play, and the team that makes the least amount of mistakes is going to come away with the victory," Budziszewski said. "They run the ball well and have an experienced quarterback who is a play-maker. Defensively, they play fast and know their assignments and don't make many mistakes, so we'll have to take advantage of whatever they give us."

Another thing to keep an eye on are the plentiful amount of records that could potentially be broken by the Pioneers. The team has scored 341 points this season, which is just 20 shy of the single season team record, set in 2014. Individually, quarterback Josh Raby needs 175 passing yards to break that single season school record, while five more touchdown passes would break another mark. The Pios could also break a couple season records on special teams, as punter Noah Streveler currently holds the single season school record for punting average (40.3), with the next-best average standing at 40.1, which was set 33 years ago. Kicker Jacob Laurent will have an opportunity to break a conference record. After already snapping Carroll's season and career record for field goals this season, the senior from Kenosha, Wis. needs three more field goals to break the CCIW record of 14 in a season.

"It's a cool thing to have players who are breaking career and single season records. Granted, we'd rather have a couple more wins under our belt, but this is an opportunity for some of our players to leave their mark in the history of Carroll athletics," Budziszewski said. "I love to see the hard work and dedication that these guys have put in since this coaching staff has been here. It goes to show that we're doing things the right way and our guys are buying in. If we continue on ths path, we're going to have more records fall each year and hopefully more games won as we move forward."

Another reason the Pioneers want to end the season in style, with a victory, is to send the team's 20 seniors off the field as winners one last time.

"We want to have some momentum going into the offseason, but we also have 20 players who are playing in the last football game of their life, and to send them off as a team working as hard as we possibly can for a win, would be a great thing," Budziszewski said. "Win or lose, we need to play the best football game that we've played all season. It would be great to get a win and allow these 20 seniors to finish their career off as one of the winningest classes Carroll has had in a long time."

Saturday's game will kickoff at Noon in St. Louis, Mo. It can be seen live at https://washubears.com/watch/?Live=279&type=Live, with the raidio call via WAUK Radio at https://waukradio.com/.