By David La Vaque
Should be a good one in the Northwest Suburban Conference tonight. Champlin Park (3-0) at Blaine (2-1). Saw Champlin Park in Week One and two things stood out. One, running back Brandon Marquardt. The guy does a little of everything. Runs well. Great hands out of the backfield. Also takes snaps out of the Wildcat formation. And I thought I heard he might have played some slot receiver too. I'll get there early tonight and see if he's driving the Rebels bus as well. Second thing, the Rebels defense is good enough, but not great like the 2008 crew. They have yet to hold an opponent to fewer than 21 points.
Have not seen Blaine, but I hear RB Mike Thai is a shifty runner who doesn't go down easy. Looking forward to catching DE Di-Jon Starr as well.
These teams shared the conference title with 7-1 records last season, though Champlin Park won the head-to-head matchup. Since 2004, the Rebels are 6-1 against Blaine. Should Champlin Park win again tonight, Andover (3-0) is next. Win both and the Rebels are in good shape for their third conference title in four seasons.
Fox Sports Net North is carrying this one tonight. Viewers for them. Dreaded TV timeouts for a newspaper guy on deadline. But if you're on the computer tonight, check out the GameFace page on startribune.com for score updates via Twitter.
