The Girard Indians will square off against the West Branch Warriors at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both are strolling into their contests after big wins in their previous games.
Last Friday, Girard was fully in charge, breezing past Liberty 41-7 at home. Given the Indians' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio football rankings (they are ranked 178th, while the Leopards are ranked 501st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Girard's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Dionte Mathews and Joey Alejars. Alejars' also deserves a shoutout for his performance on D, defending a pass and snagging an interception. Another thorn in Liberty's side was Gaven Hanson, who picked up a sack and made 13 total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, West Branch blew past Woodridge, posting a 52-7 victory at home. The match was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 46-7.
Jeremiah Thomas was a one-man wrecking crew for West Branch as he threw for 274 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 13.7 yards per attempt, and also rushed for 66 yards and two touchdowns on only six carries. Thomas got the majority of those yards when he took off on a run and that went for an incredible62 yards. Another receiver making a difference was Joey Jackson, who picked up 187 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, West Branch was moving up and down the field and finished the game with 523 total yards. That's the most total yards they've posted since back in October of 2023.
The win made it two in a row for Girard and bumps their season record up to 2-0. As for West Branch, they pushed their record up to 2-0 with that victory, which was their ninth straight at home dating back to last season.
Girard came up short against West Branch in their previous meeting back in September of 2023, falling 52-43. Will Girard have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more football content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
