Joliet Catholic isn’t used to being in the position it was entering Friday night.

Second in football state championships in Illinois history, the Hilltoppers are accustomed to dominating, competing and being on top. Yet heading into Friday night’s game at Marist, they found themselves searching for win No. 1 of the season.

The schedule was tough, no doubt. The losses came against Lyons, Glenbard West and Fenwick, and the Hilltoppers held leads in two of them. The offense was churning, scoring 67 points in those three games, but the defense was coming off a game in which it allowed 43 points to Fenwick. There are injuries and youth galore.

The Hilltoppers needed a big victory. That’s exactly what they got Friday, winning on the final play of the game against Marist 23-17.

“You look at the meat grinder of the first three weeks and our guys have battled right down to the wire in most of those games,” Hilltoppers coach Jake Jaworski said. “Sometimes the score didn’t show it, but we had a lead in two of them. Now, getting into the meat grinder that is our conference schedule, we talk about how tough it is. There are still some things to clean up, but tonight we made one more play than the other team.”

Lucas Simulick made the heads-up play to throw the game-winning touchdown pass. Declan Wagner had the awareness to turn around on what was supposed to be a field goal attempt and make the catch. Craig Peacock had the 20-yard run to set it all up.

But credit the JCA defense. Marist was in the red zone with a few minutes to go when junior Dylan Travis got an interception to set up the game-winning drive.

“By halftime of week one, we were down four defensive starters for the next few weeks,” Jaworski said. “We got three guys back now, but the guy who made the big play, Dylan Travis Jr., hadn’t had a lot of playing time. He was kind of thrust into a spot playing man coverage, where you don’t see a lot of interceptions, but he made that play in that situation. It was awesome.”

It doesn’t get easier this week with a home game against Nazareth, but the Hilltoppers got that first win out of the way. That should make things easier.

Record watch

Despite reports online that Lincoln-Way East quarterback Jonas Williams had broken the state passing touchdown record on Friday night against Lockport, he’s not there yet. In the 49-14 win over the Porters, Williams threw for 354 yards and five touchdowns. That gives him a career total of 10,133 yards and 125 touchdowns.

The career passing TD record is 127, held by Tyler Hutchinson of Greenville (2012-14) and Jordan Roberts of Aurora Christian (05-08). With a game against Naperville Central this week, Williams will be in a position to tie or even break the record.

Friday was still historically significant. Williams is now the fourth QB in IHSA history to throw for at least 10,000 yards. He joins Quincy’s Bradyn Little (21-24, 10,674), Hutchinson (10,894) and Nazareth’s Logan Malachuk (21-24, 11,190). With five regular-season games left, he should continue moving up the list and may even claim first.

The senior QB is committed to USC.

Rematch time

Last year saw Joliet Central win a game for the first time in five years as the Steelmen beat Plainfield Central 37-17. The Steelmen rejoiced while the Wildcats lamented.

Plainfield Central went 0-9 the rest of the season. But they picked up a 21-18 win over Waukegan to begin the 2025 season and snap the skid. They’re still looking for win No. 2, however.

Likewise, Joliet Central started the year with a 27-26 win over Thornridge, but hasn’t been able to win since. The two will face off once again this week as the Steelmen host Friday night. Plainfield Central won four games just two years ago, but Joliet Central hasn’t won multiple games in a season since 2018.

The Wildcats will have revenge on their minds, while the Steelmen will have improvement on theirs.

Other firsts

Plainfield North earned its first win of the season after a challenging start. Outscored 72-3 in the first two games, the Tigers fell 21-9 against Oswego East before a massive bounce back in Week 4. They downed previously unbeaten Romeoville 49-0.

That win spoiled Romeoville’s first 3-0 start since the mid-90s. A 28-0 loss to Yorkville also ended Plainfield East’s first 3-0 start in more than a decade. Plainfield East will try to bounce back against Plainfield South this week. Plainfield North will try to make it two in a row over Minooka, and Romeoville will look to get back on track against Joliet West.

Week 4 results

Marquette 50, Dwight 19

Coal City 49, Streator 13

Joliet Catholic 23, Marist 17

Morris 48, LaSalle-Peru 0

Seneca 35, Genoa-Kingston 28

Peotone 1, Lisle 0 (forfeit)

Providence 21, Niles Notre Dame 11

Lincoln-Way East 49, Lockport 14

Lemont 50, Tinley Park 13

Lincoln-Way West 17, Lincoln-Way Central 12

Minooka 10, Joliet West 0

Oswego East 77, Joliet Central 0

Bolingbrook 47, Plainfield Central 0

Yorkville 28, Plainfield East 0

Oswego 44, Plainfield South 7

Plainfield North 49, Romeoville 0