The Cedar Catholic Trojans and the Oakland-Craig Knights are set to duel on Friday. Cedar Catholic is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 35.5 points per game this season.
Cedar Catholic is probably headed into the game with a chip on their shoulder considering Norfolk Catholic just ended the team's seven-game winning streak on Friday. They came up short against the Knights, falling 34-10. The defensive woes were uncharacteristic for the Trojans, who until this matchup were averaging 13.89 points allowed.
The losing side was boosted by Braeden Reifenrath, who rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries, and also threw for 193 yards on 19 of 28 attempts. That's the most rushing yards he has posted since back in September of 2023.
Meanwhile, Oakland-Craig earned a 35-22 win over West Point-Beemer on Friday. The Knights pushed the score to 29-6 by the end of the third, a deficit the Cadets cut but never quite recovered from.
Oakland-Craig got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Sylas Nelson out in front who rushed for 165 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 8.3 yards per carry. Nelson continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Corbin Guill, who picked up 171 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Cedar Catholic's defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 7-2. As for Oakland-Craig, their win bumped their record up to 6-3.
The upcoming match will be a clash of competing strengths. Cedar Catholic has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 277.3 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Oakland-Craig has preferred to attack from the air: they average 305.4 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Cedar Catholic didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Oakland-Craig in their previous meeting last Friday, but they still walked away with a 28-23 victory. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Nelson, who rushed for 103 yards and two touchdowns. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Cedar Catholic still be able to contain Nelson? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
