Football Preview: Granite City Warriors vs. Belleville East Lancers
Granite City hasn't had much luck against Belleville East recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Granite City Warriors and the Belleville East Lancers are set to duel.
Granite City is headed into Friday's matchup looking for a big change in momentum after dropping their 17th straight game dating back to last season on Friday. They had to suffer through a 56-6 loss at the hands of Althoff Catholic. While losing is never fun, the Warriors can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois football rankings (they are ranked 393rd, while the Crusaders are ranked 36th).
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Belleville East). They were the clear victor by a 38-14 margin over Belleville West on Friday. With that victory, the Lancers brought their scoring average up to 26.3 points per game.
Xavien Moody went supernova for Belleville East, picking up 58 receiving yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for 86 yards and a touchdown. Those 86 rushing yards gave Moody a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Kayden Wood, who threw for 217 yards and two touchdowns while completing 79.2% of his passes.
Granite City's loss dropped their record down to 0-8. As for Belleville East, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season.
Granite City took a serious blow against Belleville East when the teams last played back in October of 2023, falling 68-7. Thankfully for Granite City, Armon Vinson (who threw for 168 yards and four touchdowns on only nine passes) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
