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 venture away from home to challenge 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 fell to Lafayette Central Catholic 12-7. The game 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 received a blow as they fell 21-6 to 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.
Everything came up roses for West Lafayette against Western in their previous matchup 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
