Friday Night Drive Team of the Week: Marian Central Hurricanes

A school bus ride from Woodstock to Chicago on a Friday can take 90 minutes to two hours depending on traffic and which part of the city is the ultimate destination. Marian Central’s football team road-tripped to Hope Academy in Chicago and Chicago Christian in Palos Heights for Chicagoland Christian Conference games this season. And then there was Saturday’s three-hour trek to Kewanee, which is about 45 miles northwest of Peoria.The Hurricanes weren’t complaining about the 300-mile roadtrip, mind you.Marian won two of its last three regular-season games to earn its first playoff berth since 2017. First-year coach Dirk Stanger’s Hurricanes endured a five-game losing streak and won only three games but took advantage of this year’s expanded playoff field. A No. 22 seed in Class 3A, they thumped No. 11 Kewanee 56-14 in the opening round to earn a first-round matchup against No. 6 Johnsburg.The Hurricanes (4-6) are the Friday Night Drive Team of the Week for Week 10 by virtue of an online