Football Preview: Challis Vikings vs. North Gem Cowboys
Challis and North Gem are an even 3-3 against one another since October of 2017, but not for long. The Challis Vikings will host the North Gem Cowboys at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Challis will be strutting in after a victory while North Gem will be coming in after a loss.
Challis is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They put the hurt on Idaho City with a sharp 52-28 win on Friday. The high-scoring effort was just what the Vikings needed considering they were shutout in their previous game.
Meanwhile, North Gem entered their matchup against Garden Valley on Friday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. North Gem was beaten by Garden Valley 44-12. Having soared to a lofty 70 points in the game before, the Cowboys couldn't push the score so high this time.
North Gem's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Craig Yost, who rushed for 118 yards and two touchdowns, and Rusty Hatch, who rushed for 169 yards. That's the most rushing yards Hatch has posted since back in September of 2023.
Even though they lost, North Gem was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 291 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 231 rushing yards in six consecutive matches dating back to last season.
The victory got Challis back to even at 2-2. As for North Gem, their loss dropped their record down to an identical 2-2.
Challis came up short against North Gem in their previous meeting back in September of 2023, falling 24-18. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Yost, who rushed for 139 yards and a touchdown. Now that Challis knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
