Football Preview: Valley Lutheran Chargers vs. Ithaca Yellowjackets
Valley Lutheran is 0-9 against Ithaca since October of 2014 but things could change on Friday. The Valley Lutheran Chargers will face off against the Ithaca Yellowjackets at 7:00 p.m. The two teams have allowed few points on average, (Valley Lutheran: 14, Ithaca: 7.2) so any points scored will be well earned.
Valley Lutheran's offense might be in the hot seat on Friday considering what happened against Michigan Lutheran Seminary on Friday. They came up short against the Cardinals, falling 21-0. The matchup was a 0-0 toss-up at halftime, but the Chargers couldn't quite close it out.
Meanwhile, Ithaca put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Hemlock 51-0 on the road. The Yellowjackets might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four matches by 21 points or more this season.
Ithaca had a senior duo take command as Jackson Conn rushed for 110 yards and three touchdowns on only nine carries and Nathan Mikesell gained 241 total yards and two touchdowns. The dominant performance gave Conn a new career-high in rushing yards. Riley Guild also helped with two touchdowns in total.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Ithaca was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 335 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 162 rushing yards in five consecutive games.
Ithaca's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged three passes before it was all said and done. It was truly a group effort as Ryley White, Guild, and Elijah Smith picked up one apiece.
Valley Lutheran's loss dropped their record down to 3-2. As for Ithaca, they pushed their record up to 5-0 with the win, which was their third straight on the road.
Valley Lutheran was taken down by Ithaca 49-0 when the teams last played back in September of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Conn, who threw for 157 yards and three touchdowns while completing 83.3% of his passes, and also rushed for 46 yards and two touchdowns. Now that Valley Lutheran 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
