The Utica Chieftains will challenge the Cousino Patriots at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Utica's offense might be in the hot seat on Friday considering what happened against Dakota on Friday. They were dealt a 35-0 loss at the hands of the Cougars. Having soared to a lofty 41 points in the game before, the Chieftains' shutout was a dramatic turnaround.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Cousino). They claimed a resounding 54-6 win over Lake Shore at home. With that victory, the Patriots brought their scoring average up to 29 points per game.
Brick Sandridge and Daniel Carter were among the main playmakers for Cousino as the former threw for 137 yards and four touchdowns on only 11 passes and the latter gained 160 total yards and a touchdown. Carter's longest rush was for an impressive 52 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Another player making a difference was Jaden Gamez, who rushed for 64 yards and a touchdown.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Cousino was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 293 rushing yards. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 92.6 rushing yards per game earlier this season, but in their last three contests they've averaged 227.
Cousino didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Kameran Hayward and Jake Rudd.
Utica's defeat dropped their record down to 3-5. As for Cousino, their win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 5-3.
Everything went Utica's way against Cousino in their previous matchup back in September of 2017, as Utica made off with a 35-15 victory. In that matchup, Utica amassed a halftime lead of 28-0, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
