Two dominant signal callers in Ben Brown and Jake Merklinger are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Wesleyan Wolves will face off against the Calvary Day Cavaliers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Wesleyan comes in on six and Calvary Day on 12.
With a playoff game on the line, Wesleyan rose to the challenge on Friday. They walked away with a 33-26 victory over Stephens County.
Wesleyan's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Jamie Tremble, who picked up 217 receiving yards and two touchdowns, and Brown, who threw for 356 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 14.2 yards per attempt. Tremble's longest reception was for an incredible 79 yards.
Meanwhile, Calvary Day can now show off 11 landslide victories after their most recent game on Friday. They didn't even let Thomasville onto the board and left with a 49-0 victory. Given Calvary Day's advantage in MaxPreps' Georgia football rankings (they are ranked 29th, while Thomasville is ranked 121st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Merklinger was his usual excellent self, throwing for 238 yards and three touchdowns while completing 75% of his passes, and also punching in a touchdown on the ground. Merklinger has been hot recently, having posted three or more passing touchdowns the last three times he's played. Edward Coleman also deserves a shout-out for his two touchdowns.
Wesleyan's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 9-3. That said, the team wasn't facing the toughest opposition over that stretch, as it included 1-9 West Hall and 2-8 Dawson County (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 37.8% over those games). As for Calvary Day, their win bumped their record up to 12-0.
We should be in store for an exciting game Friday as both teams have no problem gaining yardage. Wesleyan has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 386.8 total yards per game. However, it's not like Calvary Day struggles in that department as they've been even better at 409.5 per game. With a pair of commanding offenses duking it out, the defenses are going to have their work cut out for them. Come back here after the game to get analysis of the match and other football content.
Wesleyan took a serious blow against Calvary Day when the teams last played back in November of 2021, falling 35-0. Can Wesleyan avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
