With a playoff game on the line, Central Valley rose to the challenge on Friday. They blew past the St. Mary's Cardinals 72-26. The Cougars' offense stepped up their game for this one, as that was the most points they've scored all season.
Central Valley got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Zaden Wolf out in front who rushed for 92 yards and three touchdowns on only eight carries, and also threw for 184 yards and two touchdowns while completing 91.7% of his passes. The bulk of those rushing yards came from one huge play: a run that gained an incredible 65 yards. Grady Shea Kelly also helped with two touchdowns in total.
Central Valley was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 453 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Central Valley's defense and their six sacks. Gunnar Vanosdall was especially locked on to St. Mary's QB and sacked him three times. Vanosdall has been hot recently, having also posted two or more sacks the last three times he's played.
Ben Barlow and Gage Hedstrom certainly did their best on Friday to avoid the loss. Barlow picked up 91 receiving yards and three touchdowns, while Hedstrom threw for 184 yards and four touchdowns. St. Mary's is 5-2 when Hedstrom posts three or more passing touchdowns, but 1-2 otherwise.
The victory was the seventh in a row for Central Valley, bringing their record for this year to 9-1. As for St. Mary's, with the loss, they broke their four-game winning streak and moved their record to 6-4.
Central Valley will play host again on Friday to welcome Wynot, where kickoff is scheduled at 6:00 p.m. Wynot is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 36 points per game this season. St. Mary's does not have any more games scheduled as of now.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
