Week 10 football preview: Culver seeks to knock out Lake Station for 2nd straight year

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Culver (2-7) at Lake Station (0-8), 7:30 p.m.

The Culver football team comes into the postseason coming off losses to Pioneer and LaVille by a combined score of 96-12.

Then again, Pioneer and LaVille are both ranked teams in Class 2A.

Culver had 173 yards of offense against LaVille. They ran for 132 yards, and quarterback Tucker Fisher had 41 yards passing.

Shane Shuman led the Culver ground game with 100 yards rushing.

But Culver also had four turnovers and six penalties, and they gave up a 69-yard touchdown pass, a 74-yard touchdown pass, a 27-yard touchdown run and a 55-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

Culver will try to bounce back against a Lake Station team in a rematch of last year’s Class 1A, Sectional 41 quarterfinal. Culver won that game 60-14, and that started the nine-game losing streak that Lake Station carries into this game.

Lake Station hasn’t won a sectional game since 2016 and hasn’t won a sectional title or had a winning record since 1998.

The Eagles have lost their eight games this season by an average margin of 30 points per game. Their defense, which allows 44 points per game, will try to stop Culver’s power-T offense led by Fisher and running backs Shuman, Blake Thompson and Emiliano Ortiz.

Culver will figure to have their eye on Lake Station sophomore Maurion Turks, who had 125 yards rushing, 35 yards receiving and also had 14 tackles on defense in a 51-20 loss to Crossroads Christian (Illinois) last week.

Culver has won their first sectional game in three of the last four years. Their last sectional title came in 2009.