Preview: Carey Blue Devils vs. Columbia Raiders
The Carey Blue Devils will look to defend their home field on Friday against the Columbia Raiders at 7:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Carey had already won nine in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 35 points), and they went ahead and made it ten on Friday. They put the hurt on Crestview with a sharp 29-6 victory. With Carey ahead 21-0 at the half, the game was all but over already.
Meanwhile, everything came up roses for Columbia at home against Mapleton on Friday as the squad secured a 56-14 win.
Columbia's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Marco Cirigliano, who rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown on only nine carries, and also picked up 73 receiving yards. Cirigliano was no stranger to the big play, taking off on a dash that went for 64 yards. Ethan Meier was another key contributor, throwing for 221 yards and four touchdowns while completing 71.4% of his passes.
Carey's win was their seventh straight at home, bumping their overall record up to 10-2. That said, the team wasn't facing the toughest opposition over that stretch, as it included 0-10 Bucyrus and 1-10 Ottawa-Glandorf (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 41.2% over those games). As for Columbia, their victory bumped their record up to 10-1.
