The Providence Pioneers will head out on the road to face off against the Eastern Greene Thunderbirds at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Providence has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 467 points over their last nine matchups.
Last Thursday, Providence got themselves on the board against North Harrison, but North Harrison never followed suit. They claimed a resounding 35-0 win over the Cougars at home. Fans of Providence have seen this all before: every one of the games they've played this season ended as a blowout.
Providence got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Cade Unruh out in front who rushed for 90 yards. Unruh's longest rush was for an incredible 90 yards. Preston Kempf also deserves a mention for his punt return touchdown.
Meanwhile, Eastern Greene took their match at home on Thursday with ease, bagging a 43-6 victory over North Central. Eastern Greene pushed the score to 43-0 by the end of the third, a deficit North Central cut but never quite recovered from.
James Lewis was on fire: he rushed for 226 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 12.6 yards per carry. Jonas Hawk was another key contributor, rushing for 47 yards and a touchdown.
Providence's win was their sixth straight at home (dating back to last season), bumping their overall record up to 9-0. It's not like the team was facing easy opposition over that stretch either, as it included 10-1 Tecumseh and 6-3 Milan (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 60.8% over those games). As for Eastern Greene, they now have a winning record of 5-4.
Friday's matchup might be decided on the ground as these two are both standouts in the run game. Providence has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 209.9 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Eastern Greene struggles in that department as they've been averaging 208.3 per game. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
