Preview: Medicine Lodge Indians vs. Valley Heights Mustangs
Medicine Lodge has enjoyed a three-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will take on the Valley Heights Mustangs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in Kansas (Medicine Lodge is ranked 87th, while Valley Heights is ranked 83rd).
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Medicine Lodge had no problem doing just that on Friday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 17-14 victory over Trinity.
Medicine Lodge's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Derrek Randels, who picked up 85 receiving yards and a touchdown, and Keveon Ruiz, who threw for 218 yards and a touchdown.
Sedgwick typically have all the answers at home, but on Friday Valley Heights proved too difficult a challenge. Valley Heights walked away with a 52-40 win over Sedgwick. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Valley Heights.
Medicine Lodge pushed their record up to 8-2 with that win, which was their fourth straight at home. That said, the team wasn't facing the toughest opposition over that stretch, as it included 2-7 Oakley and 3-6 Inman (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 33.9% over those games). As for Valley Heights, their victory bumped their record up to 8-2.
