Football Game Preview: Tatum Eagles vs. Gladewater Bears

The Tatum Eagles will head out on the road to take on the Gladewater Bears at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.

Tatum is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 45 points back in September, they were much more limited against Liberty-Eylau last Friday. They lost to the Leopards at home by a 28-13 margin.

Meanwhile, Gladewater had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 32.3 points) and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They were the clear victors by a 46-20 margin over the Leopards. With the Bears ahead 22-0 at the half, the matchup was all but over already.

Gladewater's win came from a few key players Tatum will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Achilles Hess, who rushed for 22 yards and two TDs, and also threw for 136 yards and one touchdown on only 12 passes. Another player making a difference was Carsin Cooper, who rushed for 129 yards and one score while picking up 7.2 yards per carry.

Gladewater was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 270 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 167 rushing yards in 12 consecutive games dating back to last season.

Gladewater didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Madaxx Vasquez and Tray Watts.

Gladewater's win bumped their record up to 6-1. As for Tatum, their loss dropped their record down to 2-4.

Tatum didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Gladewater in their previous meeting back in October of 2024, but they still walked away with a 33-28 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Eagles since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.