Bloomington is 5-0 against Urbana since October of 2016, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Bloomington Purple Raiders will challenge the Urbana Tigers at 7:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Bloomington has four straight wins, Urbana has 13 straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Bloomington is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They blew past Normal West 48-16 on the road on Friday. Given the Purple Raiders' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois football rankings (they are ranked 79th, while the Wildcats are ranked 202nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Rob Lanier continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 172 yards and a touchdown while picking up 7.5 yards per carry. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in rushing yards. Another player making a difference was AJ Codron, who threw for 110 yards and three touchdowns while completing 75% of his passes.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Bloomington was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 295 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 157 rushing yards in seven consecutive contests dating back to last season.
Bloomington's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Juan Rivera and Mikey Kimmell.
Meanwhile, it's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 59-6, which was the final score in Urbana's tilt against Champaign Central on Friday. The Tigers were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 49-6.
Bloomington's victory bumped their record up to 4-0. As for Urbana, their loss dropped their record down to 0-4.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's game: Bloomington has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 381.2 total yards per game. It's a different story for Urbana, though, as they've been averaging only 172.2. Will Bloomington be able to march up the field at their leisure again, or will Urbana flip the script?
Bloomington won a matchup that couldn't have been any closer when the teams last played back in September of 2021, slipping by Urbana 1-0. The rematch might be a little tougher for Bloomington since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
