Football Game Preview: Carmel Padres vs. Palma Chieftains

The Carmel Padres will challenge the Palma Chieftains at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Carmel is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They simply couldn't be stopped on Friday as they easily beat Aptos 57-13.

Meanwhile, Palma strolled into their game last Friday with a perfect record and they left with the same. They took their matchup with ease, bagging a 41-7 victory over Monterey. With the Chieftains ahead 34-0 at the half, the contest was all but over already.

Carmel better keep an eye on Eli Dukes. He was instrumental in Palma's win, rushing for 250 yards and three scores on only nine carries. That's the most rushing yards Dukes has posted since back in October of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of David Garcia, who rushed for 98 yards and a pair of touchdowns on only seven carries.

Palma was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 377 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.

Palma's win bumped their record up to 4-0. As for Carmel, the victory got them back to even at 2-2.

Things could have been worse for Carmel, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 41-22 loss to Palma in their previous meeting back in October of 2019. Thankfully for the Padres, Anthony Villegas (who rushed for 157 yards and five TDs) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.