Football Preview: Mt. Zion Braves vs. Breese Central Cougars
Two dominant signal callers in Keller Stocks and Preston Baker are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Mt. Zion Braves will square off against the Breese Central Cougars at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Mt. Zion sitting on five straight victories and Breese Central on 11.
Mt. Zion is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They took down Peoria Notre Dame 43-29.
A big part of Mt. Zion's win came down to the chemistry between Stocks and his top target Brayden Trimble. Stocks threw for 234 yards and three touchdowns while completing 76.5% of his passes while Trimble gained 185 total yards and two touchdowns. Stocks is on a roll when it comes to passing touchdowns, as he's now passed for three or more in the last five games he's played. Kaden Becker was in the mix as well, providing Mt. Zion with two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Breese Central humbled Murphysboro with a 34-7 victory. The result was nothing new for the Cougars, who have now won ten matches by 27 points or more so far this season.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Breese Central to victory, but perhaps none more so than Baker, who threw for 232 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 11.6 yards per attempt. Kaden Rakers helped Baker out on the ground, rushing for 47 yards and two touchdowns.
Mt. Zion's record now sits at 8-3. As for Breese Central, their record is now 11-0.
We should be in store for an exciting game as the two teams have no problem gaining yardage. Mt. Zion has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 350.9 total yards per game. However, it's not like Breese Central struggles in that department as they've been averaging 386.1. With a pair of commanding offenses duking it out, the defenses are going to have their work cut out for them.
Mt. Zion couldn't quite finish off Breese Central in their previous meeting back in November of 2023 and fell 16-13. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Baker, who rushed for 102 yards, and also threw for 139 yards and a touchdown. Now that Mt. Zion knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
