Football Preview: Mechanicsburg Wildcats vs. Cocalico Eagles
Mechanicsburg has won six straight games at home (dating back to last season), while Cocalico has won six straight on the road, but those streaks won't matter much on Friday. The Mechanicsburg Wildcats will welcome the Cocalico Eagles at 7:00 p.m. The two teams are strolling into their matches after big wins in their previous games.
If Mechanicsburg beats Cocalico with 42 points on Friday, it's going to be the team's new lucky number: they've won their past two contests with that exact score. Mechanicsburg was the clear victor by a 42-21 margin over Shippensburg two weeks ago. Fans of the Wildcats have seen this all before: every one of the games they've played this season has ended in a blowout of 20+ points.
Mechanicsburg got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Dominick Baker out in front who rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown on only ten carries, and also picked up 37 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Those 115 rushing yards gave Baker a new career-high. Another receiver making a difference was Josh Smith, who gained 205 total yards and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, everything went Cocalico's way against Hershey on Friday as Cocalico made off with a 42-21 win. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as the Eagles just coasted through the last quarter.
Cocalico's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Josh Myer, who rushed for 138 yards and three touchdowns on only 12 carries, and Dane Horning, who rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.9 yards per carry. Horning is becoming a predictor of Cocalico's success: when he posts at least two rushing touchdowns the team is 7-1 (and 1-2 when he doesn't).
Cocalico was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 310 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 173 rushing yards in 11 consecutive games.
One reason for the win was Cocalico's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for six sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Rylan Jenkins and Jerry Mcardle, who racked up four sacks between them. Mcardle also set a new season high mark in total tackles with eight.
Cocalico has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 8-3 record this season. Those good results were due in large part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 14.3 points per game. As for Mechanicsburg, their record is now 10-0.
Friday's match might be decided in the on the ground. Mechanicsburg has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 195.2 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Cocalico struggles in that department as they've been averaging 290.4. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches. Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
