Week 4 of the prep football season played out pretty much as I expected. As the scores came in Friday night, nothing that happened shocked me.

It is worth noting, though, that Marmion faces a real uphill battle to make the playoffs now after their 34-7 home loss to Marian. The Cadets are 1-3 on the season, and their remaining games are against Montini, Aurora Christian, St. Francis, Aurora Central and Walther Lutheran. Marmion must win four of those five games to qualify for the postseason, and Walther Lutheran is the only sure win left on that schedule.

I wouldn't be shocked if the Cadets end up 3-6, which I wouldn't have predicted at the start of the year. It's a tough road in the Suburban Christian Conference when you're not finishing drives and you're having trouble putting together a full four quarters. Those have been the problems for Marmion so far this season.

Aurora Christian is also ready to hit the meat of its schedule. The Eagles have not been tested yet, outscoring their opponents 201-17 through the first four weeks of the season. Chad Beebe had 16 receptions for 201 yards in Friday's 55-7 win over Wheaton Academy.

The road gets much harder now with St. Francis, Marmion, Immaculate Conception and Montini coming the next four weeks. Being a Class 3A school, that's a tough haul for Aurora Christian, but I wouldn't put it past the Eagles to come out of this stretch 3-1. That's how good I think they are this year. Even if they go 2-2, that's nothing to sneeze at. No matter the outcome of these four games, they'll get an easy win in Week 9 against Guerin and be battle-tested when playoff time rolls around. At this point, Aurora Christian looks like an overwhelming favorite to repeat as Class 3A state champion.

While Marmion and Aurora Christian are preparing to run the gauntlet in the SCC, one team that is about to hit a soft spot in its schedule is Geneva. The Vikings are sitting at 1-3 after getting their first win of the season, a 56-23 pasting of Larkin Friday night, but I really think Geneva is going to recover from this tough start and qualify for the postseason.

The first three weeks of the season, the Vikings played Oswego, Wheaton North and Batavia. They lost them all, but there's no question those are the three best teams they are going to face all season. Geneva's remaining opponents are St. Charles North, St. Charles East, Elgin, Metea Valley and Streamwood.

The Vikings will be overwhelming favorites against St. Charles North, Elgin and Streamwood. If they win those three games and split the two games against St. Charles East and Metea, they've got the five wins necessary to qualify for postseason play. I think they'll pull it off.

Here's a look at the rest of Friday's scores, with links to Beacon-News stories where applicable:
Naperville Central 42, West Aurora 7
South Elgin 41, East Aurora 6
Waubonsie Valley 49, Lake Park 28
Bartlett 47, Metea Valley 27
Aurora Central 59, Chicago Christian 19
Oswego 41, Romeoville 0
Batavia 33, Streamwood 0
Oswego East 32, Plainfield South 27
Yorkville 35, LaSalle-Peru 6
Kaneland 41, Streator 0
Plano 21, Peotone 20 (OT)
Mooseheart 33, Christian Liberty 22
Sandwich 43, Manteno 42 (OT)