The Eaton Reds will head out on the road to face off against the Kent Denver Sun Devils at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Eaton fell on hard times earlier this season, but after back-to-back victories it seems like their luck might finally be changing. They put the hurt on The Academy with a sharp 34-12 win on Thursday. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as Eaton just coasted through the last quarter.
Meanwhile, Kent Denver put another one in the bag on Saturday to keep their perfect season alive. They blew past Englewood 47-0 at home. Given Kent Denver's advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado football rankings (they are ranked 50th, while Englewood is ranked 156th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Wyatt Walker and Yianni Balafas were among the main playmakers for Kent Denver as the former gained 170 total yards and three touchdowns and the latter threw for 230 yards and three touchdowns while completing 85% of his passes. Balafas was no stranger to the big play, turning on the jets for a run that went for 65 yards. Kent Denver also got help from Nicholas Buchenau who showed off his sure hands for 125 receiving yards.
The team's defense also helped out by holding Englewood to a paltry 210 yards. A big part of that defensive dominance came down to Kent Denver's ability to keep the quarterback under pressure: the team laid him out six times before it was all said and done. The heavy lifting was done by Tripp Skewes and Buchenau who racked up six sacks between them.
Eaton's win was their third straight at home, bumping their overall record up to 6-3. That said, the team wasn't facing the toughest opposition over that stretch, as it included 0-9 The Academy and 2-7 Severance (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 25.9% over those games). As for Kent Denver, their win bumped their record up to 9-0.
Everything came up roses for Eaton against Kent Denver when the teams last played back in November of 2021 as the team secured a 45-6 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Eaton since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
