If the road to a state title was easy, everyone would have one in their trophy case. Of course that's not the case, as the best teams advance each week to face each other which will be the case when the number one and number three teams in Class 2A meet at the Reitz Bowl Friday Night for the Regional Championship.

The top-ranked Mater Dei Wildcats found their way into the Regional after a 28-9 win over North Posey to win their fifth Sectional title in six years last Friday night. The Wildcats went with arguably their most balanced attack of the season as sophomore Kurt Wilderman hooked up with senior Julian Weidner for three touchdowns while going 14 of 24 for 187 yards. Couple that with a rushing attack that gained 200 yards on the ground, and you have a recipe for success.

Defensively, the Wildcats were stout again, holding the Vikings offense to only nine points on the night and forcing punts on four of their five drives in the first half. On the year, the Wildcats are holding teams to an average of 11 points per game, while putting up an average of 40.

They'll need to be laser-focused when they host Triton Central in Friday's Regional at the Bowl. The third ranked Tigers match up pretty evenly with Mater Dei on paper, coming in with an 11-1 record, and a rushing attack lead by senior Jonah Thacker who has put up 2,189 yards on the ground while finding the endzone an astounding 32 times.

Much like Mater Dei, Triton Central relies on a young QB in sophomore Jordan Crouse. On paper, it seems they only rely on Jordan when absolutely necessary as he is 64 of 111 with 991 yards so far this year with nine touchdowns and six interceptions.

If Mater Dei hopes to advance to next week's Semistate, they'll obviously need to be aware of where Thacker is on the field at all times. If they can keep him in check, and force the Tigers to air it out, they have a very good chance of winning this game. The fact that it's also at the Bowl is an added bonus, as it can be an intimidating place for smaller schools coming in from out of down.

Coverage of this week's game will be on our sister-station, Newstalk 1280 WGBF-AM, and online at Newstalk1280.com due to the Evansville IceMen game on ESPN Evansville 105.3. Our broadcast begins with pregame at 6:30, and kickoff at 7:00pm.

 

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