The Minneapolis Lions will head out on the road to square off against the Norton Bluejays at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Last Friday, Minneapolis was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 26-21 to Ellsworth.
Meanwhile, Norton put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They blew past Smith Center 54-22 at home. Given the Bluejays' advantage in MaxPreps' Kansas football rankings (they are ranked 32nd, while the Redmen are ranked 132nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Norton can attribute much of their success to Eli Jones, who rushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns on only 13 carries, and Tyler Backman, who gained 140 total yards and four touchdowns. Jones is on a roll when it comes to rushing touchdowns, as he's now punched in two or more in the last seven games he's played dating back to last season.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Norton was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 219 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 219 rushing yards in three consecutive matchups.
Minneapolis now has a losing record at 1-2. As for Norton, they pushed their record up to 3-0 with the victory, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season.
Minneapolis was able to grind out a solid win over Norton in their previous meeting back in September of 2021, winning 15-7. The rematch might be a little tougher for Minneapolis since the team 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
