Mt. Zion has gone 8-2 against Mattoon recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Mt. Zion Braves will head out to face off against the Mattoon Greenwave at 7:00 p.m. Mt. Zion's defense has only allowed 12.5 points per game this season, so Mattoon's offense will have their work cut out for them.
Mt. Zion will head into Friday's match hoping to keep the good times rolling: they proved they can win big two weeks ago (they won by 20) but on Friday they proved they can win the close ones too. They had just enough and edged Taylorville out 14-12.
The critical scores for Mt. Zion came from Keller Stocks and Brayden Trimble.
Meanwhile, Mattoon was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their fourth straight defeat. They lost 52-29 to Effingham. One positive for the Greenwave, at least, is that this was the most points they've scored all season.
Despite the loss, Mattoon got top-tier performance from Trysten Sewell, who rushed for 216 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 9.4 yards per carry. With that strong performance, Sewell is now averaging an impressive 117.5 rushing yards per game.
Even though they lost, Mattoon was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 278 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Mt. Zion pushed their record up to 3-1 with the victory, which was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season. As for Mattoon, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-4.
Everything went Mt. Zion's way against Mattoon in their previous meeting back in September of 2023, as Mt. Zion made off with a 35-14 win. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Sewell, who rushed for 112 yards and a touchdown, and also picked up 34 receiving yards. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Mt. Zion still be able to contain Sewell? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
