Football Game Preview: Battle Spartans vs. Raytown Bluejays

The Battle Spartans will face off against the Raytown Bluejays at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Having both just faced considerable losses, both teams are looking to turn things around.

Battle is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 40 points two weeks ago, they were much more limited against Troy-Buchanan on Friday. They were beaten by the Trojans 48-6. While losing is never fun, the Spartans can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Missouri football rankings (they are ranked 209th, while the Trojans are ranked 39th).

Meanwhile, Raytown was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their third straight defeat. They were dealt a 42-7 loss at the hands of Platte County. The Bluejays were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 28-0.

Even if they lost, Raytown's defensive line still kept up the pressure with 3.5 sacks. Deabriion Porchia was especially locked on to Platte County's QB and sacked him twice. Porchia is becoming a predictor of Raytown's success: when he posts at least one sack the team is 3-1 (and 2-3 when he doesn't).

Raytown's defeat dropped their record down to 5-4. As for Battle, their loss dropped their record down to 0-9.

Everything went Battle's way against Raytown when the teams last played back in October of 2017, as Battle made off with a 21-0 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Spartans since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.