Preview: Naches Valley Rangers vs. La Salle Lightning
The Naches Valley Rangers will be playing in front of their home fans against the La Salle Lightning at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in Washington (Naches Valley is ranked 156th, while La Salle is ranked 150th).
After a string of five wins, Naches Valley's good fortune finally ran out on Friday. They took a 28-21 hit to the loss column at the hands of Toppenish.
Despite the loss, Naches Valley got a solid performance out of Thane Denny, who rushed for 87 yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, La Salle can now show off four landslide victories after their most recent match on Friday. Everything went their way against Wahluke as La Salle made off with a 28-7 win. The win was just what La Salle needed coming off of a 28-0 defeat in their prior matchup.
La Salle's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Jaiden James, who rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown on only 15 carries, and Johan Valladares, who rushed for 120 yards on only nine carries. Tyler Do got in on the action as well, converting a pick into a touchdown.
Toppenish's win bumped their season record to 4-4 while Naches Valley's defeat dropped theirs to 6-2.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's matchup: Naches Valley has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 150.6 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like La Salle struggles in that department as they've been even better at 243.2 per game. It's looking like Friday's match might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Naches Valley beat La Salle 32-22 when the teams last played back in October of 2022. Will Naches Valley repeat their success, or does La Salle have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
