The Cougars were defeated on Saturday November 19 by Marian University 41-7 in the first round of the NAIA playoffs. Despite the Cougars’ season ending, the game was hard fought until the end.
In the first quarter, Marian connected on a 26 yard pass for a touchdown to go up early 7-0.
In the second quarter junior quarterback, Stuart Ross, connected with junior running back, Amari Venerable, for a passing touchdown from 20 yards out to tie the score at seven.
In the third quarter the game took a turn. Marian caught two interceptions, both which were returned for touchdowns. MU also had a touchdown pass, which made the score 34-7.
In the final quarter of the cougars 2022 season, Marian scored another touchdown to make the score 41-7, solidifying the Knights first round win.
The Cougars were never really able to get anything started on the offensive side of the ball, only gaining 153 yards on offense compared to Marian’s 255.
Marian also got six sacks on the day causing the Cougars to lose 22 total yards.
Although it was not the outcome SXU was hoping for, they had many great players that were recognized for their efforts throughout the season.
Athletes who were named to All-MFSA Midwest League First Team were Justin Pringle, Jeremy Widmayer, Payton Campbell, Jaleel Holloway, Joey Markasovic, Peyton Nigro, Ron Carroll, and Nathan Tokar.
SXU also had several players named to the All-MSFA Midwest League Second Team, which included Mario Price, Kyle Quinn, Alex Pavlov, Kevin Countryman, Tyler Barnette, as well as Pringle again.
Markasovic was awarded MFSA League Defensive Player of the Year for his outstanding job on defense for Saint Xavier.
Along with Markasovic, Ross, Peyton Benes, and Finn Brandon all were named CSC Academic All-District Team, by maintaining a GPA of above 3.5 all season.
Head Coach, Mike Feminis, was named MFSA Midwest League Co-Coach of the Year, as well as Defensive Coordinator, Bill McKeon, being named Assistant Coach of the Year.
Congratulations to the 2022-2023 coaching staff and team on a great season. For a team to start off 0-2 and finish the regular season by winning nine straight games is an incredible feat and not easy to do.
Even though the Cougars will be missed, nothing less will be expected from them next year.