Football Preview: Bloomington Purple Raiders vs. Normal Community Ironmen
Bloomington is 1-7 against Normal Community since September of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Bloomington Purple Raiders will look to defend their home field against the Normal Community Ironmen at 7:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Normal Community is hoping to do what Urbana couldn't on Friday: put an end to Bloomington's winning streak, which now stands at five games. Bloomington claimed a resounding 84-0 victory over Urbana on the road. The Purple Raiders' offense stepped up their game for this one, as that was the most points they've scored all season.
Rob Lanier was his usual excellent self, rushing for 145 yards and three touchdowns on only seven carries. His longest rush was for an impressive 56 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Another back making a difference was Tavarrion Rodgers, who rushed for 60 yards and two touchdowns.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Bloomington was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 321 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in October of 2023.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Bloomington's defense and their four sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Justin Robinson and Drake Glass, who racked up all four sacks between them.
Meanwhile, while Normal Community put up plenty of points on Friday, the same can't be said for Manual. Normal Community breezed by Manual on the road to the tune of 42-0. The Ironmen's offense checked out after the first half but had enough points banked to take the game anyway.
Bloomington pushed their record up to 5-0 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. As for Normal Community, their victory bumped their record up to 4-1.
Bloomington was taken down by Normal Community 34-0 in their previous meeting back in September of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Normal Community's Kyle Beaty, who threw for 213 yards and three touchdowns while completing 73.9% of his passes, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground. Now that Bloomington knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
