Football Preview: West Lafayette Red Devils vs. Western Panthers
West Lafayette is 7-0 against Western since September of 2015, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The West Lafayette Red Devils will face off against the Western Panthers at 7:00 p.m. West Lafayette is looking to tack on another W to their six-game streak on the road dating back to last season.
West Lafayette had been on a three-game streak of scoring at least 31 points, but Lafayette Central Catholic put an end to it on Friday. West Lafayette took a 12-7 hit to the loss column at the hands of Lafayette Central Catholic. The matchup marked the Red Devils' lowest-scoring match so far this season.
Despite the loss, West Lafayette had strong showings from Kojo Steffey, who gained 116 total yards and a touchdown, and Dawson Martin, who rushed for 131 yards. Martin's rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his third straight game with at least 131 rushing yards dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, Western was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their seventh straight defeat dating back to last season. They took a hard 21-6 fall against Hamilton Heights.
Western's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Levi Shoemaker, who rushed for 114 yards, and Cameron Hobensack, who rushed for 17 yards and a touchdown. The dominant performance gave Shoemaker a new career-high in rushing yards.
The defeat snapped West Lafayette's winning streak at three games and leaves them with a 3-2 record. As for Western, their loss dropped their record down to 0-5.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's game: West Lafayette has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 356.8 total yards per game. It's a different story for Western, though, as they've been averaging only 153.2. Will West Lafayette be able to march up the field at their leisure again, or will Western flip the script?
Everything came up roses for West Lafayette against Western in their previous meeting back in October of 2022, as the squad secured a 43-6 win. Will West Lafayette repeat their success, or does Western have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
