The Valparaiso Vikings will head out on the road to face off against the Merrillville Pirates at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Valparaiso sitting on five straight wins and Merrillville on four.
With a playoff game on the line, Valparaiso rose to the challenge on Friday. They took down Michigan City 26-7. Given Valparaiso's advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana football rankings (they are ranked 18th, while Michigan City is ranked 70th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Justin Clark was on fire: he rushed for 146 yards and three touchdowns. Clark was no stranger to the big play, taking off on a dash that went for 61 yards. Thomas Burda also helped out as he racked up 109 rushing yards.
Another reason for the win was Valparaiso's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for five sacks. Brady Blaschke was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up two sacks himself.
Meanwhile, Merrillville stacked a sixth blowout onto their ever-increasing hoard on Friday. They blew past Hammond Morton 42-18. Merrillville pushed the score to 42-6 by the end of the third, a deficit Hammond Morton cut but never quite recovered from.
Trey Stevens was the offensive standout of the matchup as he rushed for 101 yards on only seven carries.
Valparaiso's win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 9-2. As for Merrillville, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 9-2 record this season.
Valparaiso skirted past Merrillville 26-24 when the teams last played back in September. The rematch might be a little tougher for Valparaiso since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
