Football Preview: Oakland-Craig Knights vs. Battle Creek Braves
The Oakland-Craig Knights will venture away from home to face off against the Battle Creek Braves at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Oakland-Craig is looking to tack on another W to their six-game streak on the road dating back to last season.
Last Friday, Oakland-Craig didn't have too much trouble with Malcolm at home as they won 27-9.
Jaxen Jorgensen was his usual excellent self, rushing for 132 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.8 yards per carry. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 104.5 rushing yards per game. Another player making a difference was Braylon Anderson, who threw for 219 yards and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Battle Creek). They simply couldn't be stopped on Friday as they easily beat Archbishop Bergan 48-20 at home. Given the Braves' advantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska football rankings (they are ranked 20th, while the Knights are ranked 99th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Battle Creek's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Aden Pochop, who rushed for 114 yards and two touchdowns, and also caught a touchdown. Pochop got the majority of those rushing yards when he took off on a run that went for an incredible 62 yards. Wyatt Nierodzik was in the mix too, providing Battle Creek with two touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Battle Creek was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 286 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 242 rushing yards in three consecutive matches.
One reason for the win was Battle Creek's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for four sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Dawson Amick and Connor Heiderman, who racked up all four sacks between them. Heiderman is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made six or more in the last three games he's played dating back to last season.
Oakland-Craig's record is now 4-0. As for Battle Creek, their record is now 4-0.
Oakland-Craig came out on top in a nail-biter against Battle Creek when the teams last played back in September of 2017, sneaking past 27-24. Does Oakland-Craig have another victory up their sleeve, or will Battle Creek turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
