Football Preview: Roxana Shells vs. Civic Memorial Eagles
After starting their season with two straight games on the road, Roxana is finally coming home. They will look to take advantage of their home-field as they take on the Civic Memorial Eagles at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Last Friday, everything came up roses for Roxana on the road against Red Bud as the squad secured a 57-26 victory. Given the Shells' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois football rankings (they are ranked 120th, while the Musketeers are ranked 255th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Roxana to victory, but perhaps none more so than Sean Maberry, who threw for 104 yards and two touchdowns while completing 83.3% of his passes. The dominant performance gave him a new career- in rushing yards. Speaking of playmakers, who could forget Kael Hester, who went all the way with a kickoff return for a touchdown.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Roxana was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 325 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 243 rushing yards in 15 consecutive games dating back to last season.
Roxana's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Andruw Ellis and Zebediah Katzmarek.
Meanwhile, Civic Memorial beat East Alton-Wood River 21-8 on Friday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Eagles.
Civic Memorial can attribute much of their success to Kevahn Flanagan, who rushed for 137 yards on only 15 carries. Flanagan also deserves a shoutout for his performance on D, forcing a fumble and making seven total tackles (3.0 for loss).
Civic Memorial wouldn't let East Alton-Wood River keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Civic Memorial can thank Parker Parnell and Flanagan for forcing both of them. Parnell also put in work on the defensive side of the ball, forcing a fumble and making four total tackles in addition to snagging an interception which he returned for a touchdown.
The win got Roxana back to even at 1-1. As for Civic Memorial, their victory bumped their record up to 2-0.
Everything came up roses for Roxana against Civic Memorial when the teams last played back in September of 2023 as the team secured a 49-6 win. In that contest, Roxana amassed a halftime lead of 49-0, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
