Football Preview: St. Mary's Cardinals vs. North Central Knights
The St. Mary's Cardinals will face off against the North Central Knights at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. St. Mary's knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 31 points or more in their past six matchups -- so hopefully North Central likes a good challenge.
Having struggled with three defeats in a row, St. Mary's finally turned things around against Elgin/Pope John on Friday. They blew past the Wolfpack, posting a 68-28 victory on the road.
Gage Hedstrom was his usual excellent self, rushing for 140 yards and three touchdowns on only 13 carries, while also throwing for 136 yards and three touchdowns on only eight passes. His rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his fourth straight game with at least 119 rushing yards dating back to last season. Another player making a difference was Ben Barlow, who picked up 110 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
St. Mary's didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off four passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Barlow and Hedstrom. Barlow is trending in the right direction considering he's improved his point production for three straight games.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, St. Mary's was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 224 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 156 rushing yards in six consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, North Central was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their 14th straight loss dating back to last season. They took a blow against Ainsworth, falling 70-30. While losing is never fun, the Knights can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska football rankings (they are ranked 135th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 43rd).
North Central might have lost, but man, Atwood Albrecht was a machine: he picked up 60 receiving yards and a touchdown, and also rushed for 55 yards and a touchdown.
The win got St. Mary's back to even at 3-3. As for North Central, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-6.
Friday's game might be decided in the trenches. St. Mary's has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 210.8 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for North Central, though, as they've been averaging only 42.5. How will they fare against such a dominant running game?
St. Mary's took a serious blow against North Central in their previous matchup back in October of 2017, falling 60-14. That contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point St. Mary's was down 34-6.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
