The Peoria Lions will square off against the Champaign Central Maroons at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams are strolling into their matchups after big wins in their previous games.
Peoria is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They blew past Richwoods 80-30 on Friday. The Lions haven't had any issues with the Knights recently, as the game was their eighth consecutive win against them.
Detaurion Pollard had a dynamite game, rushing for 170 yards and a pair of touchdowns on only eight carries.
Meanwhile, Champaign Central hadn't done well against Danville recently (they were 1-8 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Friday. The Maroons put the hurt on the Vikings with a sharp 36-14 victory.
Champaign Central's win came from a few key players Peoria will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Ziyir Aker, who rushed for 111 yards and two TDs, and also caught one score. He has become a key player for Champaign Central: the team is 2-1 when he posts at least two rushing touchdowns, but 1-2 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Wyatt Christensen, who picked up 120 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns.
One reason for the win was Champaign Central's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for seven sacks. The heavy lifting was done by David Ward and Maurice Dominick, who racked up six sacks between them. Thanks to that big game, Ward is now up to 7 sacks on the season.
The win got Champaign Central back to even at 3-3. As for Peoria, their victory bumped their record up to 4-2.
Everything came up roses for Peoria against Champaign Central in their previous meeting back in October of 2024, as the squad secured a 44-2 win. In that game, the Lions amassed a halftime lead of 44-0, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
