Football Preview: Fruitland Grizzlies vs. Kimberly Bulldogs
Fruitland and Kimberly are an even 3-3 against one another since October of 2014, but not for long. The Fruitland Grizzlies will challenge the Kimberly Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Fruitland is headed into the contest after thoroughly thrashing Teton: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Fruitland blew Teton out of the water with a 47-13 final score. The Grizzlies pushed the score to 33-7 by the end of the third, a deficit the Timberwolves had little chance of recovering from.
Fruitland found their leader in sophomore Titus Vidlak, who threw for 224 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 11.2 yards per attempt, and also rushed for 72 yards and two touchdowns. A healthy portion of Vidlak's aerial production (169 yards to be exact) went to Spencer Tracy, who also brought in two receiving touchdowns.
Vidlak was just one part of a punishing run game: Fruitland was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 248 rushing yards. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their rushing yard total in three consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Kimberly entered their tilt with Gooding two weeks ago with four consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with five. Their defense stepped up to hand the Senators a 48-0 shutout.
It was another big night for Macraye Bruning, who threw for 279 yards and five touchdowns while completing 72% of his passes. He has been hot recently, having posted three or more passing touchdowns the last four times he's played. Mason Jensen was another key player, picking up 73 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Kimberly's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 6-3. Those victories were due in large part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 7.0 points per game. As for Fruitland, their record now sits at 8-2.
Friday's match will pit two of the most dominant signal callers against one another: Vidlak and Bruning. Vidlak just won't slow down this season and has thrown 21 touchdowns while averaging 183.6 passing yards per game. Bruning has been a dominant force too and has thrown 24 touchdowns while averaging 183 passing yards per game.
Fruitland didn't have too much breathing room in their matchup against Kimberly when the teams last played back in August, but they still walked away with a 32-28 victory. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Bruning, who threw for 176 yards and three touchdowns, and also rushed for 53 yards. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Fruitland still be able to contain Bruning? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
