Milestone win for Marquette, Muskego coming through under pressure highlight Week 2 takeaways

Week 2 provided the final nonconference tune up opportunity for many greater Milwaukee-area high school football teams, as conference play is slated to begin next week. Several notable finishes in our top 10 and beyond put the area on notice as contenders begin to emerge. Here are our takeaways from Week 2:

Muskego edges past Oak Creek in top 10 battle

A low-scoring, defensive slugfest between Muskego and Oak Creek took a sudden turn when the Knights took an 8-7 lead on a 2-yard Jackson Phelps run and two-point conversion pass to Drew Braam with 6:30 remaining. Nevertheless, junior defensive lineman Liam Shaw said there was no panic on the Muskego sideline.

"I don't think we were ever thinking about that we're going to lose this game," Shaw said. "We have that winning mentality, and it's going to stay that way the rest of this year."

That mindset was evident on a 48-yard touchdown run by Ashton Krause on the ensuing drive for the Warriors, as he bounced outside before weaving through the Oak Creek secondary to send a packed home crowd into hysterics. The run with just over two minutes remaining gave the Warriors a 15-8 lead. Muskego head coach Ken Krause said the Warriors have been deliberate in enhancing their endurance this offseason to maintain their level of play throughout the game.

"One thing we pride ourselves on is our offseason program, we also work really hard in practice," Krause said. "We go no-huddle in practice so that in the game we're not as tired."

Oak Creek sophomore Izayah Angeles, in just his second start replacing Cade Palkowski under center, was chased out of the pocket regularly by a Shaw-led Muskego pass rush as well. Shaw had two sacks, bringing his two-game total to five already this season. Senior Jack Ploeckelman and junior Juan Carlos Viruet were each credited with a sack on Friday as well. The pressure proved cumulative on the final Oak Creek drive, as the defensive line drew two holding calls on the Knights to bookend Shaw's second sack.

"To his credit, he was probably the most dialed-in player this offseason," Ken Krause said of Shaw. "There was no one more committed to himself and his team."

The Warriors improved to 2-0 as they open up their Classic 8 schedule by hosting Waukesha West (2-0) on Friday. Oak Creek fell to 1-1, and will travel on Friday to Kenosha Bradford (1-1) in each team's first Southeast Conference game.

Marquette scores a landmark program win

The Hilltoppers rebounded from a close loss to Arrowhead last week by shutting out reigning WIAA Division 4 runner up Catholic Memorial, 35-0, at the home of the Crusaders on Friday. The win was not only an overwhelming response to some of the miscues in their home opener, but one that brought the Hilltoppers to a significant program milestone. Friday's victory was No. 750 for Marquette's football program. The all-time record for the Hilltoppers, known thanks to the diligent research of Pat Foran, is now 750-280-36. Marquette takes a 1-1 record on the road to Germantown (0-2) next week in its Greater Metro Conference opener. Catholic Memorial, meanwhile, falls to 0-2, their worst start since three-straight losses in Weeks 3, 4 and 5 sunk their record to 2-3 in 2006. The Crusaders limp into a Parkland Conference opener Thursday at home against Milwaukee Lutheran (0-2).

Two-point conversions play role in two close finishes

Two area games that went down to the final minute were decided on two-point conversion attempts Friday. Oconomowoc went for the win rather than overtime with 12 seconds to play in regulation, lining up to go for it after an Andrew Mirek 11-yard touchdown scramble to pull within 35-34 of Sussex Hamilton. Mirek's would-be go ahead two-point pass was intercepted by Chargers junior linebacker Matt Kabitzke, however, and the ensuing onside kick was unsuccessful for the Raccoons as well. Sussex Hamilton held on to improve to 2-0, while Oconomowoc takes a 1-1 overall record into Classic 8 play.

Conference play was already under way in the Milwaukee City's Richardson division on Friday, where Milwaukee Reagan erased a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter with a pair of two-point conversions. After trailing 36-22 to Milwaukee Riverside early in the fourth, senior Christian Thompson took a four-yard carry in for a touchdown with 6:18 remaining. A two-point carry from junior running back Brennan Litchford brought Reagan within 36-30. Then with less than a minute left in regulation, Litchford scored his third touchdown of the game from two yards out before replicating the effort on the two-point try. The go-ahead score to put Reagan ahead 38-36 held up for the final 58 seconds, moving the Huskies to 1-1 on the season. Riverside dropped to 0-2 with the loss.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette's milestone, Muskego's mindset highlight football takeaways