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Preview: Lakota West at Lakota East

Photo Caption: Lakota East QB Jamison Kitna (photo by: Barry Burtenshaw / burtenshaw.smugmug.com)

It’s rivalry time for the Blitz 5 Game of the Week. The Lakota West Firebirds look to continue the roll that they are on against their school district nemesis, Lakota East. The home team Thunderhawks are young and still learning how to win but don’t let their one victory fool you this team has the talent to pull off the upset.

#4 LAKOTA WEST FIREBIRDS (5-2, 2-1) at LAKOTA EAST THUNDERHAWKS (1-6, 1-5)
Kickoff: 7:00 p.m., October 6th
The Hawks Nest
Follow on X: @TSFootball 

PLAYERS TO WATCH: Seniors Jacob Asbeck, Drew Minich, Elijah Davis, Taebron Bennie and Gabriel Flores lead the way for the Lakota East defense. Asbeck, Bennie and Davis all have defensive touchdowns. Bennie has committed to Notre Dame, Asbeck has committed to Navy and Davis is headed to Akron. Junior Sam Wiles has been a pleasant surprise since being inserted into the starting lineup at quarterback five weeks ago. Wiles has amassed 789 yards of total offense (559 pass, 239 rush) and 12 touchdowns (nine pass, three rush) in that span.

The future looks very bright for Lakota East behind rising star quarterback Jamison Kitna and company. The junior has thrown for 1,347 yards, ran for 200 yards and accounted for 14 scores (eight pass, six rush). His top target is the lightning-fast sophomore Zion Neal. He has 37 receptions for 502 yards and three touchdowns. Neal’s classmate Ryder Hooks has run for 758 yards, with 19 receptions for 154 yards and five trips to the end zone (four rush, one rec). Hooks has more than 100 yards rushing four times in his last five games. 

TEAM TRENDS: Tom Bolden is 13-0 all-time versus Lakota East. He is 4-0 with an average margin of victory of 24.0 points per contest against the Thunderhawks, as the head coach at Lakota West. That bodes well for a Firebirds offense that has scored at least 33 points in each of their last five outings and a defense that has only allowed 8.0 points per game. No one has scored more than 18 points on them. The Lakota West defense has been on lock down mode during the team’s current five game winning streak holding opponents to a 22.1% conversion rate on third and fourth downs.

Lakota East is 1-9 in its last 10 tilts. The Thunderhawks have lost six of those contests by eight points or less. Lakota East has 117 receptions this season, that is only 10 fewer than they had the previous three years combined.

HEAD COACHES:
Lakota West: Tom Bolden (44-10 at Lakota West, fifth year; 176-31 overall, 17th year)

Lakota East: Jon Kitna (1-6 at Lakota East, first year; 69-48 overall, 11th) 

PLAYOFF HISTORY:
Lakota West (nine appearances, 11-9) – 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2014, 2013, 2009, 2006, 2004

Lakota East (five appearances, 4-5) – 2021, 2020, 2018, 2014, 2012

LAKOTA WEST’S KEYS TO VICTORY: The Firebirds are playing their best football right now and seem to keep getting better every week. The offense needs to continue to spread the wealth. Nine different offensive players have scored touchdowns during their winning streak. Defensively, the linebackers could have a monster night if the men in the trenches get pressure in the backfield. 

LAKOTA EAST’S KEYS TO VICTORY: The magic number is 21 for the Thunderhawks. If they can figure out how to get to that number on the scoreboard by the beginning of the fourth quarter and not give up any unconventional scores Lakota East is going to be in this ballgame. The offensive line must keep Kitna clean on passing plays or else it could be a long night. 

Prediction: Lakota West 35, Lakota East 13 



 

 

 

 

 

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