Football Preview: South Allegheny Gladiators vs. Sto-Rox Vikings
The South Allegheny Gladiators will take on the Sto-Rox Vikings at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (South Allegheny has three straight victories, Sto-Rox has six straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Last Friday, South Allegheny beat Apollo Ridge 41-29. Given the Gladiators' advantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania football rankings (they are ranked 218th, while the Vikings are ranked 473rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Cameron Epps was his usual excellent self, rushing for 189 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries. That's the most rushing yards he has posted since back in August. The team also got some help courtesy of Drew Cook, who picked up 119 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, South Allegheny was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 227 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 154 rushing yards in 11 consecutive games dating back to last season.
One reason for the win was South Allegheny's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for seven sacks. Apollo Ridge's QB won't forget Camden Lewis anytime soon given he sacked him twice.
Meanwhile, Friday just wasn't the day for Sto-Rox's offense. They were outmatched by Carlynton on the road and fell 40-0.
South Allegheny pushed their record up to 7-1 with the win, which was their fourth straight on the road. As for Sto-Rox, their loss dropped their record down to 0-7-1.
South Allegheny was able to grind out a solid victory over Sto-Rox in their previous matchup back in September of 2015, winning 31-20. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Sto-Rox's Billy Frauens, who rushed for 129 yards and a touchdown on only 13 carries, and also picked up 65 receiving yards and a touchdown. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be easier for South Allegheny to walk away with another win? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
