The Mattoon Greenwave are taking a road trip to take on the Marion Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Mattoon is no doubt hoping to put an end to an eight-game streak of away losses dating back to last season.
Mattoon is headed into the match out to prove that what happened against Mahomet-Seymour on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Mattoon was beaten by Mahomet-Seymour 63-7. While losing is never fun, the Greenwave can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois football rankings (they are ranked 277th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 68th).
Meanwhile, Marion had to endure a three-game losing streak, but that streak is no more. They skirted past Carbondale 44-42.
Ryian Calonne went supernova for Marion, rushing for 92 yards and three touchdowns. Calonne is becoming a predictor of Marion's success: when he posts at least two rushing touchdowns the team is 4-1 (and 1-2 when he doesn't). Callahan Roper also helped out by tossing the rock for 264 yards.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Marion was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 225 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in September of 2023.
Mattoon's loss dropped their record down to 2-6. As for Marion, their victory bumped their record up to 5-3.
Mattoon strolled past Marion when the teams last played back in October of 2023 by a score of 43-28. The rematch might be a little tougher for Mattoon 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
