By: Nate Calvin
It will be a NWOAL rematch in round one as No. 16 makes the trip to take on top seeded Archbold on Saturday night.
Archbold won the first meeting 42-3 as the Bluestreaks scored the final 42 points of the game after Delta had taken an early 3-0 lead.
The champions of the NWOAL have yet to be challenged this year scoring an average of 41.4 ppg and allowing just 6.7 ppg.
The Bluestreaks have played their best in the big games with wins over Liberty-Benton (44-14), Liberty Center (41-7), Wauseon (41-7), and Patrick Henry (42-7).
Archbold has featured a balanced offense by passing for 164 yards per game while rushing for 248.1 ppg.
Senior quarterback and NWOAL Player of the Year DJ Newman guides the high-powered offense with 1,523 yards passing and 19 touchdowns while also leading Archbold in rushing with 1,088 yards and 17 TDs.
Newman is joined in the 1,000-yard rushing club by Carson Dominique who has carried the 158 times for 1,004 yards and 13 touchdowns.
The Archbold receivers are led by Gavin Bailey with 36 catches for 600 yards and nine TDs while Karter Behnfeldt has hauled in 28 passes for 399 yards and three scores.
Gabe Chapa leads a very stout defense for Archbold in tackles with 74, Caden Alvarado has 70, and Devon Morris as tallied 45 including a team-high seven sacks.
For Delta, they grabbed the final playoff spot by edging out Wayne Trace despite losing five of their last six games after 3-1 start.
The Panthers are a run first offense as they have run for 2,111 yards and passed for only 483 through ten games. Running back Josh Tresnan-Reighard leads a trio of runners that accumulated over 400 yards this season for Delta with 664 yards on 134 attempts and 11 TDs.
Jerremiah Wolford is next with 554 yards and six scores while Bryer Kanpp has added 429 yards on the ground with four touchdowns.
Tresnan-Reighard also leads a Delta defense that will have their hands full trying to slow down the Archbold offense with 89 tackles, including six tackles-for-loss.
Nate can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com