High School Football Game of the Week Preview – Mater Dei vs Forest Park
The regular season is over. Now it's win or go home for every team in the state of Indiana as Sectionals get underway Friday night.
The Mater Dei Wildcats and Forest Park Rangers will start their march toward playing Thanksgiving weekend at Lucas Oil Stadium when the face each other at the Reitz Bowl. Mater Dei comes in ranked first in the state in Class 2A after a thrilling win over the Reitz Panthers last week in front of 10,000-plus people at the Bowl gave them the city and conference titles, along with an undefeated season.
As has been the Wildcats M-O throughout the season, they relied on the legs of wide-receiver-slash-running-back Julian Weidner who led Mater Dei in rushing with 122 yards on 19 attempts, two of which found their way into the end zone.
Despite throwing a 93-yard pick six to Malik Higgins for the game's first score, sophomore quarterback Kurtis Wilderman showed the ability to shake off the early mistake for an effective 10-17, 197 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions against the Panthers.
The Wildcat defense also held strong, limiting Reitz QB, Evan Deig to just five completions on 13 attempts for 55 yards and one score.
On the flip side, the Rangers of Forest Park come into Friday's game after a tough season that saw them win only one game (week four against Crawford County). Offensively, the Rangers struggled to put points on the board, scoring a total of 70 while their defense gave up a season total of 345.
It will no doubt be a tall order for the Rangers to come out of the Bowl with a win, but as the saying goes, "that's why you play the game". Anything could happen, and that's the beauty of not just football, but sports in general.
This week's game will feature an earlier-than-normal kickoff, and can be heard on our sister-station, Newstalk 1280 WGBF-AM due to our contractual obligation to carry Game 3 of the World Series on ESPN Evansville 105.3. Pregame begins at 5:30pm with kick off from the Bowl underway at 6pm.