The Sterling Golden Warriors will be playing in front of their home fans against the St. Francis Spartans at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the pair will really light up the scoreboard.
Last Saturday, Sterling got themselves on the board against Payton College Prep, but Payton College Prep never followed suit. They breezed by the Grizzlies on the road to the tune of 50-0. Given Sterling's advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois football rankings (they are ranked 133rd, while Payton College Prep is ranked 296th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, St. Francis had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 12.6 points), and they went ahead and made it six on Friday. They blew past Rochelle 45-14 at home. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as St. Francis just coasted through the last quarter.
It was another big night for Alessio Milivojevic, who threw for 308 yards and five touchdowns while completing 80.8% of his passes. Another player making a difference was Ian Willis, who picked up 62 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
The win makes it two in a row for Sterling and bumps their season record up to 5-5. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 36.0 points per game. As for St. Francis, their win was their fourth straight at home, bumping their overall record up to 8-2.
Things could have been worse for Sterling, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 42-28 loss to St. Francis in their previous meeting back in September. Can Sterling avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
