The East St. Louis Flyers will be staying on the road on Saturday to face off against the Cary-Grove Trojans at 1:00 p.m. on November 25th. One thing working in East St. Louis' favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last four matches.
East St. Louis extended their postseason success on Saturday against Washington. They enjoyed a cozy 34-18 victory over the Panthers. Given East St. Louis' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois football rankings (they are ranked fourth, while Washington is ranked 25th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
East St. Louis' win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Robert (pops) Battle, who rushed for 76 yards and a touchdown on only five carries.
Meanwhile, Cary-Grove came tearing into Saturday's game with six straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 33.2 points) and they left with even more momentum. They took down Lake Zurich 28-10.
Among those leading the charge was Logan Abrams, who rushed for 146 yards and four touchdowns.
East St. Louis' win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 10-2. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 45.8 points per game. As for Cary-Grove, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight matches, which provided a nice bump to their 11-2 record this season.
Saturday's match might be decided on the ground as these two are both standouts in the run game. East St. Louis has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 209.1 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Cary-Grove struggles in that department as they've been even better at 285.4 per game. It's looking like Saturday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
East St. Louis and Cary-Grove were almost perfectly matched up in their previous meeting back in November of 2021, but East St. Louis suffered an agonizing 37-36 defeat. Can East St. Louis avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
