The East Central Trojans will head out on the road to face off against the Evansville Memorial Tigers at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. East Central knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past 12 matchups -- so hopefully Evansville Memorial likes a good challenge.
Two teams were on the hunt for playoff glory, but only East Central walked away with it. They breezed by Greenwood at home to the tune of 47-0. East Central might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team's won 11 contests by 34 points or more this season.
Josh Ringer was his usual excellent self, rushing for 148 yards and two touchdowns on only 15 carries, while also catching a touchdown. Ringer is absolutely dominating the rushing yard category: he's posted at least 100 every time he's taken the field this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Dylan Maxwell, who rushed for 68 yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, Evansville Memorial had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 16.5 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. They managed a 21-16 win over Evansville Reitz.
Evansville Memorial relied on the efforts of Luke Ellspermann, who rushed for 78 yards and a touchdown, and Dylen Kendrick, who gained 176 total yards and two touchdowns. Kendrick's longest reception was for an incredible 70 yards.
East Central's victory was their seventh straight at home, which pushed their record up to 12-0. That said, the team wasn't facing the toughest opposition over that stretch, as it included 0-10 Greensburg and 2-8 Connersville (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 41.7% over those games). As for Evansville Memorial, their win bumped their record up to 9-3.
East Central strolled past Evansville Memorial in their previous matchup back in November of 2022 by a score of 35-21. Will East Central repeat their success, or does Evansville Memorial have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
