Two dominant backs in Thomas Burda and Cameron Jordan are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Valparaiso Vikings will venture away from home to face off against the Merrillville Pirates at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Valparaiso sitting on four straight victories and Merrillville on eight.
Valparaiso is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They walked away with a 28-21 win over Chesterton. The score was all tied up 14-14 at the break, but the Vikings were the better team in the second half.
Meanwhile, Merrillville humbled Hammond Morton with a 55-14 victory. The result was nothing new for the Pirates, who have now won eight games by 24 points or more so far this season.
Merrillville didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. It was truly a group effort as Stanley Freeman, Warren Brown Lll, and Aiden Shields picked up one apiece.
Merrillville's victory was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 10-1. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 38.4 points per game. As for Valparaiso, their win bumped their record up to 8-3.
Valparaiso took a serious blow against Merrillville in their previous meeting back in October, falling 35-7. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Merrillville's Jac'Quarious Johnson, who rushed for 226 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 12.6 yards per carry. Now that Valparaiso 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