The Galena Grizzlies will head out on the road to face off against the Douglas Tigers at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Galena comes in on five and Douglas on six.
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Galena had no problem doing just that on Friday. They enjoyed a cozy 36-17 victory over Wooster.
Colson Kermode was on fire: he rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries, and also threw for 230 yards and a touchdown while picking up 11.5 yards per attempt. The team also got some help courtesy of Joseph Czyz, who gained 98 total yards and two touchdowns.
Another reason for the win was Galena's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for three sacks. Jameson Bogart was especially locked on to Wooster's QB and sacked him twice.
Meanwhile, Douglas can now show off nine landslide victories after their most recent contest on Friday. They didn't even let North Valleys onto the board and left with a 47-0 victory. Douglas pushed the score to 41-0 by the end of the third, a deficit North Valleys had no chance of recovering from.
It was another big night for Connor Jackson, who rushed for 227 yards and four touchdowns on only 13 carries. Jackson really tore up the turf during one magnificent 78-yard run. Trace Estes also helped out with an impressive 90 receiving yards.
Galena now has a winning record of 6-5. As for Douglas, their win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 10-1.
Friday's contest might be decided on the ground as these two are both standouts in the run game. Galena has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 149.9 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Douglas struggles in that department as they've been even better at 251.7 per game. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches. Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other football content.
Galena was taken down by Douglas 51-21 in their previous matchup back in September. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Douglas' Jackson, who rushed for 304 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 9.2 yards per carry. Now that Galena knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
