Football Game Preview: Milford/Cissna Park Bearcats vs. Meridian Hawks

The Milford/Cissna Park Bearcats will take on the Meridian Hawks at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Having both just faced considerable losses, both teams are looking to turn things around.

Milford/Cissna Park is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Illinois' top teams: Pawnee/Lincolnwood, who was ranked first at the time (Milford/Cissna Park was ranked 11th). The Bearcats had to suffer through a 50-16 loss at the hands of Pawnee/Lincolnwood. The contest marked the Bearcats' lowest-scoring matchup so far this season.

Meanwhile, Meridian played a tough game on Saturday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They were dealt a 60-26 defeat at the hands of Metro-East Lutheran. The Hawks were down 48-19 at the end of the third quarter, and things only got worse from there.

Milford/Cissna Park will have to keep a close watch on Bryce Brown and Cam Dean, a pair of players who had a big impact on Meridian's prior game. Brown threw for 348 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 10.9 yards per attempt, while Dean picked up 93 receiving yards and one TD. Dean showed off some serious burst, cutting upfield on a catch for 53 yards.

Meridian didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Maxwell Hubner and Terry OLaughlin. Another thorn in Metro-East Lutheran's side was Trenton Dowdy, who forced one fumble and made nine total tackles.

Meridian's loss dropped their record down to 1-4. As for Milford/Cissna Park, their defeat was their first of the season and makes their record 4-1.