The Almira-Coulee-Hartline Warriors and the Liberty Christian Patriots are set to duel on Saturday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Almira-Coulee-Hartline sitting on four straight wins and Liberty Christian on 11.
Almira-Coulee-Hartline is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They skirted past Neah Bay 14-12. The 14-point effort marked the Warriors' lowest-scoring game of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
It was another big night for Caden Correia, who rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown, and also threw for 62 yards and a touchdown. He also deserves a shoutout for his performance on D, picking up a sack and making five total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Another reason for the win was Almira-Coulee-Hartline's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for four sacks. Noah Butler was especially locked on to Neah Bay's QB and sacked him twice. Butler has been hot , having also posted five or more total tackles the last six times he's played.
Meanwhile, Liberty Christian faced DeSales in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Friday. Liberty Christian simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat DeSales 56-20. The result was nothing new for the Patriots, who have now won ten matches by 28 points or more so far this season.
Charlie Branning was his usual excellent self, rushing for 253 yards and five touchdowns while picking up 14.9 yards per carry. Liberty Christian also got help from Hunter Cole, who showed off his sure hands for 87 receiving yards.
Liberty Christian was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 314 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 161 rushing yards in four consecutive matchups.
Liberty Christian didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. It was truly a group effort as Dax Mercure, Addison Lyle, and Branning picked up one apiece.
Almira-Coulee-Hartline is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine contests, which provided a nice bump to their 10-2 record this season. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 32 points. As for Liberty Christian, their victory was their eighth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 11-0.
Saturday's game might be decided in the on the ground. Almira-Coulee-Hartline has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 279.7 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Liberty Christian struggles in that department as they've been averaging 230.3. It's looking like Saturday's match might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Almira-Coulee-Hartline lost to Liberty Christian on the road by a decisive 50-36 margin in their previous matchup back in September. Can Almira-Coulee-Hartline avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
