The Steele Knights will square off against the McNeil Mavericks at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the match red-hot, with Steele sitting on nine straight victories and McNeil on four.
Steele had already proven themselves in the regular season, and didn't miss a beat now that it's playoff time. They breezed by Brandeis at home to the tune of 42-14. Steele might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team's won eight matchups by 24 points or more this season.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Steele to victory, but perhaps none more so than Jonathan Hatton jr., who rushed for 65 yards and three touchdowns. Hatton jr. has been hot recently, having posted two or more rushing touchdowns the last six times he's played. Another player making a difference was Jalen Cooper, who picked up 142 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, McNeil sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 17-14 win over Bowie on Friday.
Steele's victory was their 12th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 10-1. They've been dominating during the matchups in that stretch too, as they've won by an average of 32.92 points. As for McNeil, their victory bumped their record up to 7-4.
