Two dominant signal callers in Rio Litmer and Cam O'Hara are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Highlands Bluebirds will square off against the Cooper Jaguars on Friday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Highlands comes in on seven and Cooper on 12.
Highlands is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They strolled past Woodford County with points to spare, taking the game 55-38. The defensive woes were uncharacteristic for the Bluebirds, who until this contest were averaging 12.15 points allowed.
Litmer was his usual excellent self, throwing for 292 yards and three touchdowns on only 18 passes, while also rushing for 74 yards. Highlands also got a significant boost from Tayden Lorenzen, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 82 yards.
Highlands was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 300 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in November of 2023.
Meanwhile, it was a proper cat-fight when Cooper faced off against Scott County on Friday. Everything went Cooper's way against Scott County as Cooper made off with a 45-20 win. Considering the Jaguars have won ten matchups by more than 24 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Cooper's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Keagan Maher, who rushed for 161 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 9.5 yards per carry, and O'Hara, who threw for 214 yards and three touchdowns while completing 83.3% of his passes. Maher has been hot , having posted two or more rushing touchdowns the last six times he's played. Isaiah Johnson was O'Hara's top target, picking up 86 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Cooper wouldn't let Scott County keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Cooper can thank Alex Vogelpohl and Christian Brown for forcing both of them.
Highlands is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine matches, which provided a nice bump to their 11-2 record this season. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 46.7 points per game. As for Cooper, they pushed their record up to 12-0 with the victory, which was their tenth straight at home dating back to last season.
We should be in store for an exciting game as Highlands and Cooper have no problem gaining yardage. Highlands has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 367.1 total yards per game. However, it's not like Cooper struggles in that department as they've been averaging 376.8. With a pair of commanding offenses duking it out, the defenses are going to have their work cut out for them.
Highlands couldn't quite finish off Cooper in their previous meeting back in September and fell 24-21. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Maher, who rushed for 128 yards and a touchdown while picking up 8.0 yards per carry. Now that Highlands knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
