Football Preview: Itasca Wampus Cats vs. Italy Gladiators
Itasca hasn't had much luck against Italy recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Itasca Wampus Cats will challenge the Italy Gladiators at 7:00 p.m.
Itasca is headed into Friday's game looking for a big change in momentum after dropping their third straight game on Friday. They were beaten by Rio Vista 34-7. Having soared to a lofty 33 points in the game before, the Wampus Cats couldn't push the score so high this time.
Meanwhile, Italy came tearing into Friday's match with six straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 13.7 points) and they left with even more momentum. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat the Bulldogs 41-6. The matchup marked the Gladiators' most dominant win of the season.
Gared Wood was his usual excellent self, rushing for 111 yards and two touchdowns on only eight carries, while also throwing for 186 yards and two touchdowns. He got the majority of those rushing yards when he took off on a run that went for an incredible 62 yards. A healthy portion of Wood's aerial production (82 yards to be exact) went to Lucky Johnson, who also brought in a receiving touchdown.
Itasca's defeat dropped their record down to 3-5. As for Italy, their victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 7-1.
Itasca was dealt a bruising 52-0 loss at the hands of Italy in their previous matchup back in October of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Wood, who threw for 294 yards and seven touchdowns while completing 85.7% of his passes, and also rushed for 87 yards and a touchdown on only 11 carries. Now that Itasca 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
