Football Preview: Nemaha Central Thunder vs. Royal Valley Panthers
Nemaha Central is 5-0 against Royal Valley since September of 2016, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Nemaha Central Thunder will look to defend their home field against the Royal Valley Panthers at 7:00 p.m. The two teams are strolling into their matches after big wins in their previous games.
Royal Valley is hoping to do what Sabetha couldn't on Friday: put an end to Nemaha Central's winning streak, which now stands at five games. Nemaha Central never let Sabetha onto the board and left with a 24-0 win. Considering the Thunder have won three matchups by more than 23 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Carter Hajek continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 148 yards and four touchdowns. His rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his tenth straight game with at least 104 rushing yards dating back to last season.
Nemaha Central didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. It was truly a group effort as Jayden Seitz, Caleb Strathman, and Jack Macke picked up one apiece. What's more, Strathman also racked up 47 rushing yards, the mosthe's had since back in October of 2023. Nemaha Central got some further help from Abram Keim: he made 12 total tackles (4.0 for loss).
Nemaha Central was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 231 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Royal Valley). They blew past Atchison County, posting a 54-8 victory at home. The high-flying offensive performance was a huge turnaround for the Panthers considering their 12-point performance the contest before.
Nemaha Central pushed their record up to 5-1 with the win, which was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season. As for Royal Valley, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 4-2.
Everything came up roses for Nemaha Central against Royal Valley when the teams last played back in September of 2023, as the team secured a 62-0 win. Does Nemaha Central have another victory up their sleeve, or will Royal Valley turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
