Football Preview: Sedgwick County Cougars vs. Merino Rams
Sedgwick County is 8-2 against Merino since November of 2016, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Sedgwick County Cougars will be staying on the road to face off against the Merino Rams at 7:30 p.m. The two teams are strolling into their games after big wins in their previous games.
Sedgwick County is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Colorado's top teams: Dayspring Christian Academy, who was ranked 23rd in their home state at the time (Sedgwick County was ranked tenth). Everything went Sedgwick County's way against Dayspring Christian Academy last Saturday as Sedgwick County made off with a 46-23 victory. With that win, the Cougars brought their scoring average up to 28.3 points per game.
Jaxon Carlson continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 310 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 14.1 yards per carry, and also throwing for 75 yards and two touchdowns. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 104.2 rushing yards per game. Brady Mollendor was in the mix too, providing Sedgwick County with two touchdowns.
Sedgwick County wouldn't let Dayspring Christian Academy keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Sedgwick County can thank Josh Kler and Cooper Edson for forcing both of them. Edson also made five total tackles, which is notable because Sedgwick County is 2-1 when he posts at least three total tackles, but 1-2 otherwise.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Sedgwick County was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 410 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 182 rushing yards in three consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, after only six points in their last match, Merino made sure to put some points up on the board against Dayspring Christian Academy on Saturday. Merino was the clear victor by a 36-12 margin over Dayspring Christian Academy. Considering the Rams have won four matchups by more than 23 points this season, Saturday's blowout was nothing new.
The victory got Sedgwick County back to even at 3-3. As for Merino, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 4-3 record this season.
Sedgwick County was able to grind out a solid win over Merino in their previous meeting back in October of 2023, winning 38-28. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Merino's Coen Schmidt, who rushed for 145 yards and a touchdown while picking up 8.1 yards per carry, and also threw for 260 yards and three touchdowns while completing 77.3% of his passes. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Sedgwick County still be able to contain Schmidt? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
