Football Game Preview: Burley Hits the Road

By Team Reports Sep 17, 2024, 3:55am

Football Preview: Burley Bobcats vs. Preston Indians

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The Burley Bobcats will square off against the Preston Indians at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams might be coming in a bit winded given these two teams combined for 973 yards in their previous games.

Last Friday, Burley was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 27-22 to Bear River. The Bobcats gained 215 more yards on the day, but it was the Bears that made the best use of them.

Despite the loss, Burley had strong showings from Kendrix Knobbe, who picked up 240 receiving yards and two touchdowns, and Mack Jensen, who threw for 371 yards and two touchdowns. Knobbe torched the secondary when he pulled down a catch that went for 70 yards. Burley also got a significant boost from Boddee Coombes, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 113 yards.

Meanwhile, Preston was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their fifth straight defeat. The contest between them and Ogden wasn't particularly close, with Preston falling 42-26. The Indians were down 42-14 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.

Despite the loss, Preston saw an underclassman step up: Carter Perry threw for 391 yards and two touchdowns, and also punched in a rushing score. Those 391 passing yards set a new season-high mark for him.

This is the second loss in a row for Burley and nudges their season record down to 1-2. As for Preston, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-4.

Friday's game might be decided in the trenches. Burley has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 182.3 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for Preston, though, as they've been averaging only 72.8. How will they fare against such a dominant running game?

Burley couldn't quite finish off Preston in their previous matchup back in September of 2023 and fell 53-51. Can Burley avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.

Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps