Dayspring Christian Academy and Akron are an even 5-5 against one another since October of 2017, but not for long. The Eagles will look to defend their home field on Saturday against the Rams at 1:00 p.m. The two teams have allowed few points on average (Dayspring Christian Academy 13.4, Akron 13.7) so any points scored will be well earned.
Dayspring Christian Academy is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Colorado's top teams: Merino, who was ranked 24th at the time (Dayspring Christian Academy was ranked fifth). The Eagles claimed a resounding 50-6 victory over the Rams. Considering the Eagles have won five contests by more than 23 points this season, Saturday's blowout was nothing new.
Elijah Martin
| 10/11/25 @ Merino | 189 |
| 10/03/25 @ Sedgwick County | 115 |
| 09/26/25 @ Akron | 64 |
| 09/20/25 @ Las Animas | 67 |
| 09/13/25 vs Hayden | 64 |
| + 11 more games |
Dayspring Christian Academy can attribute much of their success to Elijah Martin, who rushed for 189 yards and a pair of TDs on only 15 carries, and Hawkins Flanagan, who rushed for 79 yards and two touchdowns. That's the most rushing yards Martin has posted since back in September of 2024.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Dayspring Christian Academy's defense and their four sacks. Aj Soucie refused to say out of the backfield, picking up 1.5 sacks all by himself.
Meanwhile, Akron strolled into their game on Friday with a perfect record and they left with the same. They came within four points of losing the streak, but they secured a 28-24 W against Haxtun. Those 28 points were actually the fewest the Rams have put up all season, but given the result they're probably not too concerned.
Akron's win came from a few key players Dayspring Christian Academy will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Kolten Randel, who threw for 309 yards and three TDs while completing 77.3% of his passes, and also punched in one score on the ground. He didn't just play on offense: he also made 16 total tackles (2.0 for loss) and defended two passes. Jakzon Livesay helped Randel out on the ground, picking up 178 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Akron didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Livesay and Jace Curtis.
Dayspring Christian Academy's win bumped their record up to 6-1. As for Akron, their victory bumped their record up to 6-0.
Saturday's game might be decided on the ground. Dayspring Christian Academy has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 261 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Akron struggles in that department as they've been averaging 184 rushing yards. There's a good chance Saturday's matchup turns into a tough fight on the ground.
Dayspring Christian Academy might still be hurting after the 34-8 loss they got from Akron in their previous meeting back in September. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Curtis, who rushed for 87 yards and one score, and also threw for 33 yards and one TD. Now that the Eagles know the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
