Black River has enjoyed a three-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They and the Columbia Raiders are set to duel on Friday.
Black River is likely headed into the contest with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against Clearview on Friday. Black River took a 22-14 hit to the loss column at the hands of Clearview. While losing is never fun, the Pirates can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Ohio football rankings (they are ranked 499th, while the Clippers are ranked 232nd).
Meanwhile, Columbia waltzed into their matchup on Friday with three straight wins... but they left with four. They breezed by the Cardinals on the road to the tune of 49-14. The match was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 42-7.
It was another big night for Jimmy Stofey, who rushed for 130 yards and two touchdowns on only five carries, and also caught a touchdown. Those 130 rushing yards gave him a new career-high. Xavier Hendon was in the mix as well, providing Columbia with two touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Columbia was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 408 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 153 rushing yards in nine consecutive games.
Black River now has a losing record at 4-5. As for Columbia, their victory was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 7-2.
Black River didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Columbia in their previous meeting back in October of 2023, but they still walked away with a 24-20 win. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Columbia's Marco Cirigliano, who rushed for 84 yards and three touchdowns. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be easier for Black River to walk away with another win? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
