DANVILLE — The Knox Morrow Athletic Conference title won’t be won or lost Friday night, but the championship picture will focus squarely on the survivor of a huge clash.
Northmor will host Danville in what has become one of the most competitive games on the KMAC schedule. The Blue Devils own a 4-3 lead in the series dating to the launch of the KMAC in 2017. Danville has won two straight and three of the past four.
The game will feature two of the KMAC’s top three scoring defenses. Northmor has allowed a conference-low 47 points through the first four weeks. Danville has allowed 55 points.
Danville (3-1, 1-0) at Northmor (4-0, 1-0)
The Blue Devils tuned up for Friday’s showdown with a 20-8 win over Mount Gilead. Josh Byers had 25 tackles, including a pair of sacks, while Aidan Burke rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries. Byers and Jacob Hackman both had scoring runs. Byers leads the KMAC with 72 tackles while Blake Colopy is tied for fifth with 45 stops. Caleb Lucas has seven tackles for loss. Danville leads the KMAC with nine interceptions. Wesley Payne is tied for the league lead with three interceptions. Offensively, Burke ranks fifth in rushing with 442 yards and four TDs on 69 carries.
Northmor quarterback A.J. Bower is the most accurate passer in the conference. Bower has completed 34-of-51 passes for a league-leading 740 yards and 10 touchdowns. Cowin Becker has rushed for a team-high 365 yards and six TDs on 39 carries. Becker had TD runs of 50 and 55 yards in last week’s 34-26 win at Centerburg as well as a 22-yard TD catch. Linebacker Garrett Deisch has a team-high 33 tackles. Defensive end Cameron Goldbach has 5.5 tackles for loss and three sacks, while Ashton Clark has a pair of sacks.
Mt. Gilead (2-2, 0-1) at Fredericktown (2-2, 1-0)
Mount Gilead led Danville 8-6 at the half last week before falling 20-8. Wyatt Long tossed an 11-yard TD pass to Eliot Jones. Running back Cam Vickers ranks fourth in the KMAC in rushing with 445 yards on 72 carries. Defensively, Mount Gilead leads the KMAC with 20 sacks. Shane Carpenter leads the league with six sacks, while Vickers has four sacks among his KMAC-leading 10 tackles for loss. Boe Sayers and Gauge Shipman each have three sacks. Carson Barnum has eight tackles for loss, while Carpenter has seven TFLs.
The Freddies boast the top rusher in the conference in dual-threat quarterback Blake Sipes. The junior has rushed for 715 yards and eight touchdowns on 91 carries while completing 23-of-49 passes for 323 yards and three TDs. Elijah Roush leads the defense with 39.5 tackles. Cirk Parker has 37.5 stops.