The Byron Tigers will head out on the road to take on the Williamsville Bullets at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: both posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Williamsville is hoping to do what Lutheran couldn't on Friday: put an end to Byron's winning streak (dating back to last season), which now stands at 16 games. Byron claimed a resounding 49-18 win over Lutheran at home. The Tigers pushed the score to 49-10 by the end of the third, a deficit the Crusaders cut but never quite recovered from.
Meanwhile, Williamsville blew past PORTA/Ashland-Chandlerville Central/Greenview, posting a 49-14 victory on the road. Given the Bullets' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois football rankings (they are ranked 97th, while the are ranked 379th), the result on Friday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Braddock Cates had an outrageously good game as he rushed for 216 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 12.7 yards per carry. His longest rush was for an incredible 93 yards. Another rusher making a difference was Matthew Miller, who rushed for 57 yards and a touchdown.
Williamsville wouldn't let PORTA/Ashland-Chandlerville Central/Greenview keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Williamsville can thank Gage Paul and Andrew Donelan for forcing both of them. Paul didn't just play on offense: he also forced a fumble and made seven total tackles (3.0 for loss). Williamsville got some further help from Griffin Liles: he picked up a sack and made nine total tackles (4.0 for loss).
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Williamsville was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 285 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 162 rushing yards in seven consecutive games dating back to last season.
Byron's win was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 2-0. As for Williamsville, their record is now 2-0.
Byron came up short against Williamsville when the teams last played back in November of 2019, falling 46-42. Can Byron avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
