Football Preview: Cocalico Eagles vs. Mechanicsburg Wildcats
The Cocalico Eagles will square off against the Mechanicsburg Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Last Friday, Cocalico made easy work of Hershey and carried off a 42-21 victory. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as the Eagles just coasted through the last quarter.
Cocalico relied on the efforts of Josh Myer, who rushed for 138 yards and three touchdowns on only 12 carries, and Dane Horning, who rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.9 yards per carry. Myer's longest rush was for an impressive 68 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total.
Cocalico was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 310 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 173 rushing yards in 11 consecutive matchups.
Cocalico's defense made their presence known, laying out the QB six times. The heavy lifting was done by Rylan Jenkins and Jerry Mcardle, who racked up four sacks between them. Mcardle also set a new season high mark in total tackles with eight.
Meanwhile, Mechanicsburg put another one in the bag two weeks ago to keep their perfect season alive. They beat Shippensburg by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 42-21. Fans of the Wildcats have seen this all before: every one of the games they've played this season has ended in a blowout of 20+ points.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Mechanicsburg to victory, but perhaps none more so than Dominick Baker, who rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown on only ten carries, and also picked up 37 receiving yards and two touchdowns. The dominant performance gave Baker a new career-high in rushing yards. Josh Smith was another key receiver, gaining 205 total yards and two touchdowns.
Cocalico is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight matches, which provided a nice bump to their 8-3 record this season. Those good results were due in large part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 14.3 points per game. As for Mechanicsburg, their win was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 10-0.
Friday's game might be decided in the on the ground. Cocalico has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 290.4 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Mechanicsburg struggles in that department as they've been averaging 195.2. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches. Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other football content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
