Football Preview: Juan Diego Catholic Soaring Eagle vs. Richfield Wildcats
The Juan Diego Catholic Soaring Eagle are taking a road trip to square off against the Richfield Wildcats at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Juan Diego Catholic is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. Their defense stepped up to hand Carbon a 31-0 shutout. The high-flying offensive performance was a huge turnaround for the Soaring Eagle considering their seven-point performance the matchup before.
Meanwhile, Richfield put another one in the bag back in October to keep their perfect season alive. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat North Sanpete 35-0. The contest marked the Wildcats' most dominant victory of the season.
Richfield had a senior duo take command as Griffin Wayman threw for 205 yards and two touchdowns on only 19 passes and Malik Fautin picked up 114 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Fautin's longest reception was for an impressive 55 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per catch total.
Richfield was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 227 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 172 rushing yards in six consecutive matches.
Richfield didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Gage Yardley and Trey Yardley.
Juan Diego Catholic's win ended a five-game drought at home dating back to last season and bumped them up to 6-5. As for Richfield, their victory was their ninth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 10-0.
Juan Diego Catholic beat Richfield 35-28 when the teams last played back in September of 2018. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Richfield's Emmitt Hafen, who threw for 184 yards and three touchdowns, and also rushed for 73 yards and a touchdown. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be easier for Juan Diego Catholic to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
