Football Preview: Northwest Vikings vs. Crete Cardinals
The Northwest Vikings will face off against the Crete Cardinals on Friday. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Northwest will bounce into Friday's contest after beating York, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. Northwest narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past York 10-7. The win was some much needed relief for the Vikings as it spelled an end to their three-game losing streak.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Crete). They simply couldn't be stopped on Friday as they easily beat Lincoln Northwest 46-7 at home. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest victory the Cardinals have posted since October 20, 2023.
Carson Kotil had an outrageously good game as he rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns, and also picked up 37 receiving yards. His longest rush was for an incredible 86 yards. Another player making a difference was Nick Wendt, who threw for 166 yards and two touchdowns while completing 81.8% of his passes.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Crete was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 307 rushing yards. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 72.2 rushing yards per game earlier this season, but in their last three matchups they've averaged 190.7.
Crete wouldn't let Lincoln Northwest keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Crete can thank Everett Heath and Anthony Nelson for forcing both of them.
Northwest's win bumped their record up to 2-5. As for Crete, their victory (their first of the season) made their record 1-6.
Northwest was able to grind out a solid win over Crete when the teams last played back in October of 2019, winning 34-27. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Crete's Zach Turner, who picked up 124 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be easier for Northwest to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
