Football Preview: Lutheran Lions vs. Pueblo Central Wildcats
The Lutheran Lions will head out to square off against the Pueblo Central Wildcats at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Lutheran sitting on seven straight victories and Pueblo Central on three.
Lutheran will roll into the matchup after a wild two-game stretch: they only put up seven points two weeks ago, then bounced right back against Kennedy on Thursday. Lutheran breezed by Kennedy to the tune of 55-0. Given the Lions' advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado football rankings (they are ranked 31st, while the Commanders are ranked 178th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Sawyer Wald was his usual excellent self, rushing for 80 yards and two touchdowns on only eight carries. Evan Holdridge made the highlight reel by snagging an interception and taking it all the way to the house.
Lutheran didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Collin Huber and Holdridge.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Pueblo Central). They claimed a resounding 59-7 win over Coronado. The Wildcats pushed the score to 52-7 by the end of the third, a deficit the Cougars had no chance of recovering from.
Pueblo Central was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 408 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 159 rushing yards in 21 consecutive games dating back to last season.
Lutheran's victory was their tenth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 9-1. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 31.3 points. As for Pueblo Central, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 8-2 record this season.
Saturday's contest might be decided in the on the ground. Lutheran has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 210.1 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Pueblo Central struggles in that department as they've been averaging 357.8. It's looking like Saturday's matchup might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Everything came up roses for Lutheran against Pueblo Central in their previous matchup back in September of 2021, as the team secured a 60-0 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Lutheran since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
