The Simla Cubs will be playing in front of their home fans against the Merino Rams at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Simla sitting on ten straight wins and Merino on four.
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Simla had no problem doing just that on Saturday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Front Range Christian 42-0 at home. Fans of Simla have seen this all before: every one of the games they've played this season ended as a blowout.
Simla got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was TJ Eurich out in front who rushed for 155 yards and three touchdowns on only ten carries. Eurich was no stranger to the big play, turning on the jets for a run that went for 51 yards. Caston Cox was another key contributor, rushing for 58 yards and a touchdown.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Simla's defense and their eight sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Brent Bowker and Treven Kocerha who racked up 4.5 sacks between them.
Meanwhile, Merino faced McClave in a battle between two of the state's top teams. Merino snuck past McClave with a 16-12 victory on Saturday.
Simla pushed their record up to 10-0 with that win, which was their 12th straight at home dating back to last season. They've been dominating during the contests in that stretch too, as they've won by an average of 39.75 points. As for Merino, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 6-4 record this season.
Simla ended up a good deal behind Merino in their previous matchup back in September of 2015, losing 20-6. Thankfully for Simla, Logan Redabaugh (who picked up 116 receiving yards and two touchdowns) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
