Football Preview: Pine Bush Bushmen vs. Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders
Pine Bush is 2-8 against Monroe-Woodbury since October of 2017 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Pine Bush Bushmen will head out to take on the Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders at 6:00 p.m. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Having struggled with four defeats in a row, Pine Bush finally turned things around against Kingston on Friday. They managed a 32-27 win over the Tigers. The high-flying offensive performance was a huge turnaround for the Bushmen considering their seven-point performance the matchup before.
Pine Bush's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Jacob Brown led the charge by rushing for 113 yards and two touchdowns on only nine carries. Jaiden Sposito did his part to keep the secondary busy, picking up 159 receiving yards.
Pine Bush was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 318 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 154 rushing yards in eight consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Monroe-Woodbury beat Middletown 16-12 on Friday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Crusaders.
Nate Coulanges was his usual excellent self, rushing for 175 yards and a touchdown while picking up 7.3 yards per carry.
Another reason for the win was Monroe-Woodbury's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for three sacks. Leading the way was Kamal Salaudeen with two.
Pine Bush's victory ended a five-game drought on the road dating back to last season and puts them at 3-5. As for Monroe-Woodbury, they pushed their record up to 8-1 with the win, which was their fifth straight on the road.
Friday's match might be decided in the on the ground. Pine Bush has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 237 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Monroe-Woodbury struggles in that department as they've been averaging 176.8. It's looking like Friday's game might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Pine Bush was taken down by Monroe-Woodbury 42-15 when the teams last played back in October. Can Pine Bush avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
