Football Preview: Wheeler Bearcats vs. Boone Grove Wolves
The Wheeler Bearcats are taking a road trip to take on the Boone Grove Wolves at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Wheeler sitting on seven straight victories and Boone Grove on four.
It was a proper cat-fight when Wheeler took on Griffith on Friday. Everything went Wheeler's way against Griffith as Wheeler made off with a 35-13 win. Wheeler's victory was all the more impressive since the Panthers were averaging only 9.56 points allowed on the season.
Jayden Ortiz continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 220 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 10.5 yards per carry. That's the most rushing yards he has posted since back in October of 2023. Bryce Compton was in the mix as well, providing Wheeler with two touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Wheeler was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 297 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 184 rushing yards in four consecutive games.
One reason for the win was Wheeler's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for four sacks. Mitchell Krolikowski was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up twohimself. Another thorn in Griffith's side was Dylan Knezevich, who picked up a sack and made nine total tackles.
Meanwhile, Boone Grove humbled Hammond Bishop Noll with a 48-6 victory. The match was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 28-0.
It was another big night for Mark Rowland, who rushed for 47 yards and two touchdowns, and also threw for 167 yards and two touchdowns while completing 90.9% of his passes. Jack Niemand was Rowland's top target, picking up 97 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Boone Grove didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Hunter Anthony and Samir Del Rio. Boone Grove got some further help from Nick Ratkovich: he picked up a sack, forced a fumble, and made five total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Wheeler pushed their record up to 7-2 with the win, which was their fourth straight on the road. As for Boone Grove, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 6-3 record this season.
Wheeler strolled past Boone Grove in their previous meeting back in September by a score of 38-20. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Rowland, who threw for 222 yards and three touchdowns, and also rushed for 88 yards. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Wheeler still be able to contain Rowland? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
