The Whitko Wildcats will venture away from home to challenge the Eastside Blazers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Whitko has struggled recently with eight defeats in a row, while Eastside will arrive with five straight wins.
Whitko is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They were just a hair shy of victory on Friday and fell 36-35 to Wabash. Even if the Wildcats couldn't come away with the victory, the high-scoring effort was a great turnaround for their offense, which had struggled int the games prior.
Despite the loss, Whitko saw an underclassman step up: freshman Cooper Laukhuf rushed for 42 yards and one touchdown, and also threw for 96 yards and a pair of TDs.
Meanwhile, Eastside was not the first on the board on Friday, but they got there more often. They secured a 33-28 W over Angola. The score was all tied up 14-14 at the break, but the Blazers were the better team in the second half.
Whitko better keep an eye on Job Richman. He was instrumental in Eastside's win, rushing for 193 yards and a pair of scores while picking up 7.7 yards per carry, and also throwing for 78 yards and one TD. Richman's rushing production has been exceptional for a while as that marked his 12th straight game with at least 100 rushing yards dating back to last season. Noah Dove was another key player, rushing for 71 yards and one touchdown.
Eastside was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 294 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 154 rushing yards in 18 consecutive matchups dating back to last season.
Eastside's win bumped their record up to 7-2. As for Whitko, their defeat dropped their record down to 1-8.
Whitko was dealt a bruising 35-7 loss at the hands of Eastside when the teams last played back in October of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Richman, who rushed for 126 yards on only nine carries, and also threw for 90 yards and three TDs on only six passes. Now that the Wildcats know 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
