Preview: Football vs. SM Northwest

In two weeks, the East football squad has scored 88 points and given up only 10 points. The Lancers have blown opponents out by an average of 39 points. With this momentum behind them, the Lancers will take on the 1-1 SM Northwest tonight at North District Stadium.

The Cougars pulled out a last-minute victory against SM North last week, putting in a field goal to quell a 24-point comeback by North. The team relies heavily on running, and quarterback Clay Drouiliard hasn’t thrown for a touchdown this season.

This forces the team to rely on junior Duron Lowe, who notched 248 rushing yards and two touchdowns in his first two games. Lowe is capable of explosive drives, averaging 11.2 yards per carry and breaking away on 80 and 92-yard touchdown runs in last week’s game. Despite this dominating presence, Lowe sat out of the second half of last week’s game and still struggles with injuries.

Tonight’s game will be a harder matchup for Northwest. The Lancers are fresh off of two victories, in which they sliced apart defenses with their flexbone offense. Senior quarterback Gunnar Englund is second in the league with 358 passing yards and three touchdowns connecting to senior wide receiver Alec Dean. In last week’s game against SM South, East utilized the running game with junior Wyatt Edmiston and seniors Sam Huffman and Jackson Gossick.

On the defensive end, the Lancers have held opponents to 3.1 yards per carry. Led by senior defensive end Kyle Ball, who leads the league in sacks, the defensive line has smothered opponents’ running games at the line of scrimmage. Senior Charley White also leads the league in interceptions, with two on the season and seven in the last 14 games.

Tonight’s game takes place at SM North District Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. and the theme for the game is cougar hunt. Can’t make it out to the game? Watch the broadcast here.