Previewing the high school football ‘Game of the Week’: Lawrence Central vs. Ben Davis

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The weather is cooling down, but high school football action across the state is still red-hot.

No. 10 Ben Davis High School (4-3) will take on conference 6A rival Lawrence Central High School (4-3) on Friday. The matchup is WISH-TV’s high school football “Game of the Week.”

Greg Rakestraw, vice president of the ISC Sports Network, stopped by Daybreak on Thursday to preview the game.

Rakestraw says it will be “the game for the championship.”

“Ben Davis — not exactly a surprise that they would be in this group, they are four and three. Their three losses have all been to other Top 10 teams. They have all been by a touchdown or less in the game that we had last week against Carmel last week, a 21-14 loss,” Rakestraw said. “I think Lawrence Central is somewhat of a surprise. They are also 4-3, but they’re 4-0 in the league. These are two MIC unbeaten teams.”

Friday night’s game will be “strength versus strength,” according to Rakestraw.

“Ben Davis offensively is so potent, with Thomas Gotkowski at quarterback, one great punch in terms of their wide receivers and Lincoln Murff and Marques Reese, and Alijah Price and others out in the backfield. What makes LC special is what they can do defensively. They’ve got talent all over the field. A couple of the Division I kids…Josh Mickens is going to play at LSU next year; Trent Baker-Booker committed to Virginia last week. So it will be, which unit is better? Is it the Ben Davis offense or Lawrence Central defense that will determine who is to win tomorrow night’s game?”

You can see every play of the matchup between Ben Davis and Lawrence Central live Friday starting at 7 p.m. on MyINDY-TV 23. Be sure to switch to WISH-TV after the game for complete highlights on The Zone with sports director Anthony Calhoun and his team!