La Crosse, WISCONSIN (WXOW) There will be quite a buzz on the north side of La Crosse Friday night when Logan hosts Central in the rematch.
This time the Ark of Victory trophy is not on the line.
But the entire season is.
Logan really took it to central in their first meeting on October 5th.
They shutout the vaunted Red Raiders offense in their 16-0 win.
They also forced a couple of turnovers in a stunning performance.
"Our defense was key to that win, stopping their offense. Everybody thinks they have the best offense. But we proved them wrong last time and hopefully we can do it again," said linebacker Sam Leinfelder.
"The big key was converting on a couple of turnovers they made and shutting down their powerful running game. They do such a good job with their option offense and shutting down Klos and Callahan is one of the big keys," said head coach Casey Knoble.
Meanwhile, it's not often you get a second shot at your rival in the same season.
Central is relishing that opportunity.
The Red Raiders have bounced back nicely from that loss to Logan by beating Aquinas and then Merrill last week in the first round of the playoffs.
"They were more physical than us and I think that's one thing we've stressed to the kids all year long is about being more physical and being intense all the time. I think our guys are going to rise up to the challenge and do fine this week," said head coach Toy Servais.
"We have to stay focused. We can't only play two quarters of football. We've got to have a lot of intensity up front. They had that last game. They played really well last game. We got to come out and show them what we got this game," said receiver/defensive back Luke Eber.
The winner plays the winner of Holmen-Marshfield in level 3 of the playoffs.
