Football Preview: Merced Bears vs. West Park Panthers
Two dominant signal callers in Quintell Dupree and Jaden Jackson are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Merced Bears will take on the West Park Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Merced will be looking to extend their current seven-game winning streak.
Merced is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They managed a 41-35 win over Rio Americano.
It was another big night for Dupree, who rushed for 77 yards and three touchdowns, and also threw for 161 yards and two touchdowns. Another player making a difference was Adarias Morales-Saetern, who gained 113 total yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, West Park never let their opponents score back in October. They blew past Kennedy, posting a 49-0 victory. Given the Panthers' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 176th, while the Cougars are ranked 945th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Declan Shindelbower and Jackson were among the main playmakers for West Park as the former rushed for 89 yards and two touchdowns on only five carries and the latter rushed for 50 yards and a touchdown. That's the most rushing yards Jackson has posted since back in August.
West Park was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 252 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
West Park didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of CJ Wallace and Deacon Ogden.
Merced pushed their record up to 8-3 with the win, which was their fifth straight at home. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 30 points. As for West Park, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 9-1.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
