Football Game Preview: Central Catholic Rams vs. Sandy Pioneers

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Previous Games

10/18/24 - Away	42-7 W
09/14/23 - Away	68-7 W
09/16/22 - Home	41-6 W
09/25/21 - Home	41-0 W
03/12/21 - Neutral	41-0 W
+ 2 more games

Central Catholic is a perfect 7-0 against Sandy since October of 2018 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Friday. The Rams will welcome the Pioneers at 7:00 p.m. Central Catholic's defense has only allowed 11.9 points per game this season, so Sandy's offense will have their work cut out for them.

Central Catholic is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Oregon's top teams: Nelson, who was ranked fifth at the time (Central Catholic was ranked third). The Rams came up short against Nelson on Friday, falling 26-6. The Rams were red-hot offensively heading into the game (they scored no less than 31 points in the three matchups prior), but Nelson's defense proved too tough.

Meanwhile, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Sandy beat Barlow 16-10 on Friday. The 16-point effort marked the Pioneers' lowest-scoring contest of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.

Central Catholic better keep an eye on Caden McMahon. He was instrumental in Sandy's win, rushing for 97 yards and one touchdown on only 11 carries. That's the most rushing yards McMahon has posted since back in November of 2024.

Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something Sandy proved: they limited Barlow to a paltry 1.6 yards per carry. The Pioneers didn't have any issues in that department, having averaged 8.8.

Sandy is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games. That's provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season. As for Central Catholic, with the defeat, they broke their five-game winning streak and moved their record to 6-2.

Everything came up roses for Central Catholic against Sandy when the teams last played back in October of 2024, as the team secured a 42-7 win. Will the Rams repeat their success, or do the Pioneers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.