Two dominant backs in Tyson Florence and Donald Barksdale are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Western Beaver Golden Beavers will head out on the road to face off against the Steel Valley Ironmen at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both teams will really light up the scoreboard.
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Western Beaver had no problem doing just that on Friday. They strolled past Serra Catholic with points to spare, taking the game 38-21. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Western Beaver.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Western Beaver to victory, but perhaps none more so than Florence, who rushed for 231 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.7 yards per carry. Dorian McGhee also deserves a shout-out for his two touchdowns.
Another reason for the win was Western Beaver's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for six sacks. Serra Catholic's QB won't forget Jackson Liller anytime soon given Liller sacked him twice.
Meanwhile, Steel Valley came tearing into two weeks ago's game with seven straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 28.7 points) and they left with even more momentum. They claimed a resounding 54-14 victory over Serra Catholic at home. Steel Valley might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team's won seven contests by 21 points or more this season.
Barksdale was his usual excellent self, rushing for 205 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 8.9 yards per carry. Barksdale was no stranger to the big play, turning on the jets for a run that went for 57 yards. Another player making a difference was Tyson Barron, who threw for 167 yards and three touchdowns on only 12 passes.
Western Beaver has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven matches, which provided a nice bump to their 7-4 record this season. As for Steel Valley, their victory was their tenth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 8-1.
Western Beaver won a contest that couldn't have been any closer in their previous matchup back in October of 2019, slipping by Steel Valley 7-6. The rematch might be a little tougher for Western Beaver since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
