High School Football Game of the Week Preview – Reitz Versus North

Reitz comes in looking to improve on their two-game winning streak, while the Huskies hope to put an end to their two-game losing streak.

Due to their 3-3 records and the fact both Mater Dei and Castle remain undefeated, both The Panther's and Huskies hopes of claiming the 2012 conference and city titles have been dashed. However, both teams would no doubt like to wrap up the final three weeks of the season on the upswing as they prepare for Sectionals on October 19th.

If the series record is any indication, observers would more than likely pick Reitz to win Friday night at the Bowl. The Panther's have won the last five games in the series, with North's last win coming in 2006. Momentum certainly seems to be on the Panther's side following their 21-17 over the Memorial Tigers last week. North lost to Castle at home by a score of 42-7.

Although they've opened up the passing game and allowed senior quarterback Drew Johnston to air it out down the field more over the last few weeks, expect Reitz to continue their heavy reliance on senior running back Ke'Andre Vaughn. After being held to 37 yards on 10 carries in the first half last week, Vaughn shredded the Memorial defense in the second half racking up a total of 102 on 20 carries with one touchdown for the game. He and the Panther's coaching staff will look to capitalize on a porous North defense that has allowed a total of 309 rushing yards and five touchdowns over the past two weeks. To be fair, those yards were accumulated by Castle running back, Andrew Finch (195 yards and three TD's) and Mater Dei junior running back Nolan Goebel (114 yards and two touchdowns).

The Huskies would normally have their own stud running back in Blake Howell, who has already run for over 800 yards in the first six games of the season, however the senior left last week's game against the Knights in the third quarter with a reported ankle sprain. As of this writing, there is no word on whether he will play against the Panthers.

If Howell is out, North will have to lean on fullback DuVante' Lane, backup running back Ford Johnson, and quarterback Max Mooney to pick up the workload and open up the passing game.

It should be a great game as both teams would certainly like to stay on the plus-side of a .500 record. Be sure to catch all the action on Newstalk 1280AM and online at Newstalk1280.com with pregame at 6:30 and kickoff at 7pm.