After romping past Valentine by a 43-6 margin last Friday night, the Chadron High football team will host the Mitchell Tigers at 7 o’clock Friday night. It’s the Cardinals’ homecoming contest.
Mitchell has been a tough opponent the past few years, winning four of the last five games versus the Cardinals. That includes last year’s 42-14 victory at Mitchell, where the Tigers out-yarded the Cards by a 458 to 128 margin.
The Tigers aren’t expected to be as potent this year. Several of their skill position players graduated and Dez Smith, who ran for 103 yards and scored three short touchdowns against Chadron last year, transferred to Scottsbluff for his senior season.
Mitchell is 1-1 after blasting Wheatland 53-6 in its opener, but losing to Gering 40-26 last Friday night. The Tigers and Bulldogs had not met on the gridiron the previous two years.
Bolstered by excellent blocking, Chadron running back Quinn Bailey had another spectacular game at Valentine, running for 313 yards and three touchdowns besides also scoring on a pass play. That yardage is the second highest of his career, exceeded only by the 346 yards at Alliance a year ago.
Bailey’s 532 yards rushing in two games this fall leads the state, according to MaxPreps. It also puts him over the 4,000-yard mark for his career.