Maine East hasn't had much luck against Vernon Hills recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Maine East Blue Demons will challenge the Vernon Hills Cougars at 7:00 p.m. Given that both suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this matchup.
Maine East will head into Friday's game ready to turn things around: they couldn't quite beat Wheeling on Friday, but the three-point margin was a huge improvement compared to the 57-point loss they were dealt two weeks ago. Maine East fell just short of Wheeling by a score of 17-14. That makes it the first time this season the Blue Demons have let down their home crowd.
Meanwhile, Vernon Hills was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their fifth straight defeat dating back to last season. They had to suffer through a 56-21 loss at the hands of Hoffman Estates. While losing is never fun, the Cougars can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois football rankings (they are ranked 425th, while the Hawks are ranked 104th).
Vernon Hills' loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Giuseppe Urso, who rushed for 92 yards and two touchdowns, and Quami Ray, who rushed for 51 yards. The dominant performance gave Ray a new career-high in rushing yards.
Even though they lost, Vernon Hills was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 261 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
This is the second loss in a row for Maine East and nudges their season record down to 2-2. As for Vernon Hills, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-4.
Maine East ended up a good deal behind Vernon Hills when the teams last played back in September of 2023, losing 24-6. Can Maine East avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
