Football Preview: Maroa-Forsyth Trojans vs. Chicago Christian Knights
The Maroa-Forsyth Trojans and the Chicago Christian Knights are set to duel on Friday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Maroa-Forsyth sitting on five straight wins and Chicago Christian on ten.
Maroa-Forsyth is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They strolled past Johnston City with points to spare, taking the game 41-22. The Trojans pushed the score to 34-14 by the end of the third, a deficit the Indians cut but never quite recovered from.
A big part of Maroa-Forsyth's victory came down to the chemistry between Ryne Sheppard and his top target Mitch Williams. Sheppard threw for 291 yards and four touchdowns while completing 84.2% of his passes while Williams picked up 148 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Williams showed off some serious burst, cutting upfield on a catch for 50 yards. The team also got some help courtesy of Zach Smith, who picked up 122 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, Chicago Christian won against Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin last Saturday with 34 points and they decided to stick to that point total again on Saturday. Chicago Christian took down Farmington 34-20. Chicago Christian's win was all the more impressive since the Farmers were averaging only 10.38 points allowed on the season.
Kenny Jager continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 223 yards and three touchdowns. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in rushing yards. Christian Flutman was another key player, rushing for 50 yards.
Chicago Christian was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 271 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 207 rushing yards in eight consecutive games.
Chicago Christian didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. It was truly a group effort as Jared Hall, Edward Van Dellen, and Flutman picked up one apiece.
Chicago Christian's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 12-1. As for Maroa-Forsyth, their win bumped their record up to an identical 12-1.
The upcoming match will be a clash of competing strengths. Maroa-Forsyth has relied on air attacks this season and has averaged 291.9 passing yards per game. Chicago Christian, on the other hand, has relied on a stout run game: they average 190.3 rushing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Everything came up roses for Maroa-Forsyth against Chicago Christian when the teams last played back in October of 2023, as the squad secured a 42-6 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Maroa-Forsyth since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
