The Pearl City-Eastland Wildcats will face off against the Durand/Pecatonica Rivermen at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
While Wildcats fans will have to keep waiting for their team to come home, they shouldn't be too worried about the road trip considering the result of Friday's season opener. They took down Galena 22-6 on Friday.
Meanwhile, Durand/Pecatonica didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Stockton on Friday, but they still walked away with a 32-26 victory. Given the Rivermen's advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois football rankings (they are ranked 104th, while the Blackhawks are ranked 257th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Cooper Hoffman had a dynamite game for Durand/Pecatonica, throwing for 262 yards and three touchdowns while completing 85% of his passes, and also rushing for 76 yards and two touchdowns on only seven carries. Jaxon Diedrich was Hoffman's top target, picking up 152 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Pearl City-Eastland was dealt a bruising 42-0 defeat at the hands of Durand/Pecatonica in their previous meeting back in September of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Hoffman, who rushed for 88 yards and two touchdowns, and also threw for 250 yards and three touchdowns while completing 76.5% of his passes. Now that Pearl City-Eastland knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
