Football Preview: Corning Cardinals vs. Yreka Miners
Two dominant backs in Kaleb Flournoy and Trevan Crane are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Corning Cardinals will square off against the Yreka Miners at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Corning is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 29.2 points per game this season.
Corning is headed into the match out to prove that what happened against Gridley on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Corning was dealt a 44-16 defeat at the hands of Gridley. The Cardinals have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
The losing side was boosted by Flournoy, who rushed for 71 yards and a touchdown on only five carries. He got the majority of those rushing yards when he took off on a run that went for an incredible 52 yards.
Meanwhile, Yreka hadn't done well against University Prep recently (they were 0-5 in their previous five matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Friday. Yreka walked away with a 17-7 win over University Prep.
The critical scores for Yreka came from Crane and Gabe Gregg.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Yreka's defense and their five sacks. Wyatt West was especially locked on to University Prep's QB and sacked him twice. Another thorn in University Prep's side was Laydon Luce, who made ten total tackles (4.0 for loss) and snagged an interception.
Yreka pushed their record up to 7-2 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. Those victories were due in large part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 4.3 points per game. As for Corning, their loss ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 4-6.
Friday's contest might be decided in the on the ground. Corning has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 238.9 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Yreka struggles in that department as they've been averaging 243.1. It's looking like Friday's matchup might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Everything came up roses for Corning against Yreka when the teams last played back in October of 2019, as the team secured a 54-14 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Corning since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps