The Hanover Central Wildcats will venture away from home to challenge the Hobart Brickies at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be battling to keep a four-game winning streak alive.
Last Friday, Hanover Central humbled Munster with a 42-6 victory. The result was nothing new for the Wildcats, who have now won four matches by 20 points or more so far this season.
Caiden Verrett was his usual excellent self, rushing for 222 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 13.9 yards per carry. He really tore up the turf during one magnificent 83-yard run. Rocco Bartolomeo was another key player, gaining 74 total yards and two touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Hanover Central was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 268 rushing yards. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved they're rushing yard total in four consecutive games.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Hobart). They simply couldn't be stopped on Friday as they easily beat Lowell 42-7 on the road. The Brickies pushed the score to 34-7 by the end of the third, a deficit the Red Devils had little chance of recovering from.
Hobart can attribute much of their success to Willy Shearer, who rushed for 151 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 8.9 yards per carry, and Aleks Tatum, who rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown on only 11 carries. That's the most rushing yards Shearer has posted since back in October of 2023.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Hobart's defense and their 3.5 sacks. In that department, Aiden Kasch was the leader with two.
Hanover Central's victory was their tenth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 5-1. As for Hobart, their win bumped their record up to 4-2.
Friday's matchup might be decided in the on the ground. Hanover Central has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 192.7 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Hobart struggles in that department as they've been averaging 155.7. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Hanover Central didn't have too much breathing room in their match against Hobart in their previous matchup back in September of 2023, but they still walked away with a 31-26 victory. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Shearer, who rushed for 148 yards and two touchdowns, and also picked up 34 receiving yards. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Hanover Central still be able to contain Shearer? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
