Football Game Preview: Merced Bears vs. Golden Valley Cougars

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Previous Games

10/04/24 - Away	32-8 W
09/15/23 - Home	38-16 W
10/28/22 - Away	31-6 W
10/29/21 - Home	58-26 W
04/09/21 - Away	33-7 W
+ 5 more games

Merced has gone a perfect 10-0 against Golden Valley recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Bears will host the Cougars at 7:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Merced has five straight wins, Golden Valley has five straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

Merced is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They blew past Enochs, posting a 56-12 victory. Given the Bears' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 167th, while the Eagles are ranked 673rd) , the win on Friday wasn't entirely unexpected.

Merced had a senior duo take command as Cammarri Jackson rushed for 124 yards and four scores on only ten carries and Vicente Cortez rushed for 63 yards and a pair of touchdowns on only six carries. Those four rushing touchdowns set a new season-high mark for Jackson.

Merced was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 307 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in October of 2024.

Meanwhile, it was a proper cat-fight when Golden Valley took on Kimball last Friday. The Cougars came up short against the Jaguars, falling 41-19.

Merced's win bumped their record up to 5-0. As for Golden Valley, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-5.

Merced took their victory against Golden Valley when the teams last played back in October of 2024 by a conclusive 32-8 score. In that contest, the Bears amassed a halftime lead of 20-0, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.