Preview: Garfield G-Men vs. Harrison Central Huskies
Garfield has enjoyed the comforts of home their last three games, but now they'll head out on the road. They will take on The Harrison Central Huskies at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Garfield's favor is that they have now posted big point totals every time they've taken the field this season.
Garfield put the finishing touches on their 11th blowout victory of the season on Friday. They claimed a resounding 56-13 victory over Conneaut at home. Given Garfield's advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio football rankings (they are ranked 172nd, while Conneaut is ranked 393rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Eric Geddes continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 181 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 11.3 yards per carry, and also throwing for 55 yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, Harrison Central had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 24.3 points), and they went ahead and made it five on Friday. They blew past Triway 40-10 at home. Considering Harrison Central has won four matchups by more than 25 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Mykel Quito was his usual excellent self, rushing for 136 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 8.5 yards per carry. Quito hasn't dropped below 100 rushing yards for five straight games. Parker Hutton also deserves a shout-out for his two touchdowns.
Garfield's win was their sixth straight at home, bumping their overall record up to 11-0. That said, the team wasn't facing the toughest opposition over that stretch, as it included 1-9 Memorial and 1-9 Champion (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 27.9% over those games). As for Harrison Central, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 9-2 record this season.
Friday's game might be decided on the ground as these two are both standouts in the run game. Garfield has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 377.2 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Harrison Central struggles in that department as they've been averaging 206.1 per game. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
