Ryan Baker
It’s time to see if they can carry the momentum.
The Madison Radicals were able to get their first win under their belt last week, but now they will have to travel to Sea Foam Stadium in Minnesota to play the division-leading Wind Chill.
The immediate thought for the Radicals is seeing how they will fair without player/assistant coach Pat Schriwise. Last week, Shriwise made his return to the field and it was evident that his presence settled the young core of Madison.
“Pat definitely brings the confidence of the guys up but I think Pat didn't have an oversized impact on the game. He's just a calming presence,” said head coach Tim DeByl. “Hopefully guys can take that and learn from it and come out and play that same way without him there this weekend.”
Not only will Schriwise be absent, but so will Brian Hart and the hot-handed rookie in Sam Stark. However, the Radicals will see former-Minnesota player Mitchell McCarthy take the field for his 2023 season debut. McCarthy has one season under his belt, 2019, in which he got nine blocks in eleven games played.
The team will still have their core that they have been leaning on all season. Victor Luo and Henry Goldenberg will look to continue their success, along with other hot-handed rookie Anthony Gutowsky. Additionally, Knoche will be suiting up for his second game back from injury, and will surely be leading their D-line.
The Wind Chill currently sit at 4-1 on the season, coming off of a 20-18 win over the Chicago Union. Looking at records, Minnesota has the momentum over Madison and have the edge over them in recent history.
The Radicals are 0-4 in the last four trips to the north-star state, with a point differential of -23 in those road games and in the last nine matchups, Madison is 2-7. In the most recent history, Radicals did take the final game between the two last year 21-18. A game in which Sterling Knoche scored eight times.
The key to breaking the recent trend at Sea Foam Stadium will be getting out to an early lead. Minnesota’s D-line has been one of the most consistent in the league, fortunately the Radicals have turned over the disc the fewest times in the league.
Conversely, the Wind Chill have the third-highest O-line conversion rate in the league. Meanwhile, the Radicals defense showed potential to return to true form last week, but they still have the third-least amount of blocks so far this season.
“We're really preaching to start strong, so we don't let Minnesota get out ahead of us because we think their defense is really good,” said DeByl. “We want to try to keep that game tight early. Then, hopefully we can steal one in the end. We had a couple stolen from us, we feel like, so we’d like to do that to somebody else this year.”
Getting their first victory in Minnesota in three years would be a huge step in the right direction for the Radicals to not only continue their momentum, close the gap in the standings, but also make a statement to the rest of the teams around the league.
We will see what statement will be made this upcoming Saturday when Madison will be playing the Wind Chill in the city of St. Paul on June 10 at 6 p.m. CDT.
The Radicals and Wind Chill are playing a home and home series so they will be traveling down for a game at Breese on June 17th! Get Tickets.
