Mankato East at Mayo
Friday, 7 p.m., at Mayo Stadium
Coaches: East, Eric Davis (seventh season, 32-27); Mayo, Donny Holcomb (first season, 1-1).
Records: East, 0-1 Big Nine Conference, 0-2 overall; Mayo 1-0, 1-1.
Last week: East lost to Faribault, 40-9. Mayo beat Rochester Century, 49-20.
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Last meeting: Mayo won at East, 41-14, on Sept. 16, 2011.
The series: Mayo leads the all-time series, 22-4-0.
Pregame festivities: Friday, a tailgating party will be held outside of Mayo Stadium from 5:30-7 p.m. Food from Roscoe's will be available for purchase. A pork sandwich and chips or pork nachos will be available for $6. A brat or hot dog and chips will be available for $4. Willow Creek Middle School students wearing Willow Creek apparel will get in free with a paid adult.
East Notes: Eric Davis is in his second stint as the Cougars' head coach. He was 32-25 overall from 2003-08. … East's last victory against Mayo came on Oct. 1, 2004, a 35-7 Cougars' victory at Mayo. ... The Cougars have been outscored 82-16 through two weeks. … East will travel to Rochester twice in a three-week span. The Cougars play at Rochester Century on Sept. 28. … Sophomore QB Nic Seiler threw for 152 yards last week. His favorite target was Jordan Grams, who caught five balls for 98 yards, including a 61-yard touchdown.
Mayo notes: The Spartans were happy to get their running game going against Century last week. In their season-opening loss at Farmington, they had just five carries go for 4 or more yards. Against Century, they had 14 carries go for 4 or more yards. … Mayo's pass defense was solid against Century. The Spartans allowed just three completions in the first half, while intercepting Century QBs twice. Century didn't attempt a pass in the second half. … Mayo has won five consecutive meetings with East.
Coach Holcomb says: "(East) is a really athletic and fast team on both sides of the ball. Their offense can be explosive. They'll spread it out and force us to be disciplined on defense. … Our offensive line improved last week on getting off the ball and our running backs improved on making cuts, but we still need to clean some things up in the running game."
On Twitter: Jason Feldman will provide scoring updates from Friday's game. Follow him on Twitter at @PBFeldy or Twitter.com/pbfeldy
