Football Preview: Shawnee Heights Thunderbirds vs. Seaman Vikings
Two dominant signal callers in Aiden Scott and Max Huston are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Shawnee Heights Thunderbirds will welcome the Seaman Vikings at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Shawnee Heights has struggled recently with three defeats in a row, while Seaman will arrive with three straight victories.
Shawnee Heights is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They fell 69-57 to De Soto on Friday. The Thunderbirds gained 54 more yards on the day, but it was the Wildcats that made the best use of them.
Despite the loss, Shawnee Heights got top-tier performance from Scott, who threw for 593 yards and seven touchdowns while picking up 12.4 yards per attempt, and also punched in a rushing score. With that strong performance, Scott is now averaging an impressive 350.4 passing yards per game. AJ Gallegos was Scott's top target, picking up 223 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
Shawnee Heights wouldn't let De Soto keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Shawnee Heights can thank Keaven Ortiz and Savion Ward for forcing both of them.
Meanwhile, everything went Seaman's way against Lansing on Friday as Seaman made off with a 43-22 win. The result was nothing new for the Vikings, who have now won three games by 21 points or more so far this season.
Seaman had a senior duo take command as Bryer Finley picked up 298 receiving yards and three touchdowns and Huston threw for 349 yards and three touchdowns while completing 78.9% of his passes. Those 298 receiving yards set a new season-high mark for Finley. Kaden Mckinney helped Huston out on the ground, rushing for 122 yards and three touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Seaman was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 212 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in October of 2023.
Seaman didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off five passes before the game was over. Grant Ebberts led the group effort, picking up two of those interceptions all by himself. Seaman got some further help from Cameron Brian: he made 16 total tackles (1.0 for loss).
Shawnee Heights' defeat dropped their record down to 1-4. As for Seaman, they pushed their record up to 4-1 with the victory, which was their sixth straight at home dating back to last season.
The upcoming matchup will be a clash of competing strengths. Shawnee Heights has relied on air attacks this season and has averaged 354.6 passing yards per game. Seaman, on the other hand, has relied on a stout run game: they average 154.4 rushing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Shawnee Heights skirted past Seaman 33-30 when the teams last played back in September of 2023. Does Shawnee Heights have another victory up their sleeve, or will Seaman turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
