Football Preview: Birch Run Panthers vs. Chesaning Indians
The Birch Run Panthers will venture away from home to square off against the Chesaning Indians at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Birch Run's defense has only allowed 17.8 points per game this season, so Chesaning's offense will have their work cut out for them.
Last Friday, in a tight contest that could have gone either way, Birch Run made off with a 21-20 victory over New Lothrop.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Chesaning). They took their game on the road on Friday with ease, bagging a 54-23 win over Mt. Morris. Given the Indians' advantage in MaxPreps' Michigan football rankings (they are ranked 109th, while the Panthers are ranked 275th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Chesaning's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Brayden Florian, who rushed for 109 yards and a touchdown on only nine carries, and also picked up 66 receiving yards and a touchdown. Florian's rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his third straight game with at least 109 rushing yards dating back to last season. Maxwell Volk was another key passer, throwing for 201 yards and three touchdowns on only 18 passes.
Chesaning's defense stepped up as well, laying out the QB ten times. Cal Frasier and Braydn Wendling were the leaders of the group effort as each produced three apiece. The dominant performance also gave Frasier a new career-high in rushing yards.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Chesaning was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 272 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 172 rushing yards in four consecutive matches.
The win got Birch Run back to even at 2-2. As for Chesaning, their victory was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 4-0.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
