Merrillville has gone 8-2 against Lake Central recently and they'll look to pad the win column further  on Friday. The Pirates will challenge the Indians at 7:00  p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Merrillville has four straight  wins, Lake Central has four straight  defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Merrillville is headed in fresh off scoring the most  points they have   all season. They claimed a resounding  48-21 victory over Valparaiso. The Pirates might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won five contests by 21  points or more this season.

 Michael Hill Jr
| 10/03/25 @ Valparaiso | 241 | 
| 09/19/25 @ Michigan City | 75 | 
| 08/29/25 vs Loyola Academy | 57 | 
| 11/15/24 vs Valparaiso | 53 | 
| 11/01/24 vs Hammond Central | 47 | 
 Michael Hill Jr continued  his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 241 yards and two  scores on only 12 carries, while also throwing for 345 yards and four  TDs while completing 73% of his passes. Those  241  rushing yards gave  him a new career-high.  Mikel Smoot was in the mix  too, providing Merrillville with two touchdowns.
 They were just one part of a punishing run game: Merrillville was unstoppable on the ground and  finished the game with 300  rushing yards. That's the most  rushing yards they've managed all season.
 Meanwhile,  Lake Central played a tough  matchup  on Friday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They lost  27-6 to Chesterton.
 Merrillville's win bumped their record up to 5-2. As for Lake Central, their loss dropped their record down to 2-5.
 Everything came up roses for Merrillville against Lake Central in their previous meeting  back in October of 2024, as the  team secured  a  43-10 victory. In that  game, the Pirates amassed a halftime lead of  36-3, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat  on Friday.
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