Minersville has won six straight games at home (dating back to last season), while Schuylkill Haven has won six straight on the road also dating back to last season, but those streaks won't matter much on Thursday. The Minersville Battlin' Miners will welcome the Schuylkill Haven Hurricanes at 7:00 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Minersville's usually-dominant defense will be looking to make up for Friday's struggle, when Williams Valley offense got past them. Minersville took a 42-36 hit to the loss column at the hands of Williams Valley. The loss was the Battlin' Miners' first of the season.
Despite the loss, Minersville got top-tier performance from Dante Carr, who rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns on only eight carries, and also threw for 215 yards and three touchdowns. Carr's longest rush was for an impressive 62 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Matt Dube was Carr's top target, picking up 84 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Schuylkill Haven humbled Mahanoy Area with a 59-8 victory. Considering the Hurricanes have won three matches by more than 50 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
It was another big night for Niko Carestia, who rushed for 260 yards and five touchdowns on only 11 carries. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 2.5 rushing touchdowns per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Colton Reber, who rushed for 182 yards and two touchdowns on only nine carries.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Schuylkill Haven was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 543 rushing yards. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved they're rushing yard total in three consecutive games.
Schuylkill Haven wouldn't let Mahanoy Area keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Schuylkill Haven can thank Brian Moran and Leyden Hertz for forcing both of them.
Having lost for the first time this season, Minersville fell to 3-1. As for Schuylkill Haven, their win bumped their record up to an identical 3-1.
Thursday's contest might be decided in the trenches. Minersville has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 230.2 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Schuylkill Haven struggles in that department as they've been averaging 391. It's looking like Thursday's matchup might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Minersville came up short against Schuylkill Haven in their previous matchup back in October of 2023, falling 35-28. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Carestia, who rushed for 195 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 11.5 yards per carry. Now that Minersville 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
