Preview: Western Reserve Blue Devils vs. Jackson-Milton Bluejays
Western Reserve has enjoyed the comforts of home their last two games, but now they'll head out on the road. They will face off against The Jackson-Milton Bluejays at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Last Friday, Western Reserve didn't have too much trouble with Mineral Ridge at home as they won 28-14. Western Reserve's offense checked out after the first half but had enough points banked to take the game anyway.
Western Reserve relied on the efforts of Jack Darney, who gained 189 total yards and a touchdown, and Luke Henning, who rushed for 106 yards and three touchdowns.
Meanwhile, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Jackson-Milton beat Harding 26-20 on Friday. The win was just what Jackson-Milton needed coming off of a 35-14 defeat in their prior contest.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Jackson-Milton to victory, but perhaps none more so than Cayden Mitchell, who rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown, and also threw for 163 yards and three touchdowns while completing 75% of his passes. Vincent Fay also helped out with an impressive 116 receiving yards.
Western Reserve is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight matches, which provided a nice bump to their 7-2 record this season. As for Jackson-Milton, their win on Friday also bumped their record up to an identical 7-2.
Friday's match might be decided on the ground as these two are both standouts in the run game. Western Reserve has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 193.1 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Jackson-Milton struggles in that department as they've been even better at 242.6 per game. It's looking like Friday's game might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Western Reserve and Jackson-Milton were almost perfectly matched up in their previous matchup back in September of 2022, but Western Reserve suffered an agonizing 22-21 loss. Can Western Reserve avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
