Football Preview: Tulelake Honkers vs. Rogue River Chieftains
Tulelake has been away from home for two games now, but on Friday they'll finally make their return. They will welcome the Rogue River Chieftains at 6:00 p.m. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this matchup.
Tulelake is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of California's top teams: Branson, who was ranked 12th in their home state at the time (Tulelake was ranked 18th). Tulelake took a 36-30 hit to the loss column at the hands of Branson. Despite 107 more yards than the Bulls, the Honkers couldn't convert that extra yardage to scores.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Xavier Silva, who rushed for 129 yards and three touchdowns on only 14 carries, and also threw for 146 yards and a touchdown. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in rushing yards. Danny Garcia was Silva's top target, rushing for 145 yards while picking up 8.1 yards per carry, and also picking up 47 receiving yards and a touchdown.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Tulelake was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 289 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 200 rushing yards in three consecutive contests.
Tulelake wouldn't let Branson keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force three fumbles. Silva was the leader in that area as all came courtesy of his dominant performance.
Meanwhile, Rogue River was beaten by Culver 52-6 on Friday. The Chieftains have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Having lost for the first time this season, Tulelake fell to 2-1. As for Rogue River, they now have a losing record at 1-2.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
