Football Preview: Lathrop Malemutes vs. West Valley Wolf Pack
Lathrop has gone 8-2 against West Valley recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Saturday. The Lathrop Malemutes' road trip will continue as they head out to face the West Valley Wolf Pack at 4:00 p.m. One thing working in Lathrop's favor is that they have posted at least 31 points in their last three contests.
Lathrop is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Alaska's top teams: Soldotna, who was ranked second in their home state at the time (Lathrop was ranked seventh). Lathrop came out on top against Soldotna by a score of 35-28 on Saturday.
It was another big night for Oschaun Easaw, who rushed for 196 yards and two touchdowns, and also caught a touchdown. His rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his eighth straight game with at least 115 rushing yards dating back to last season. Another player making a difference was Devin Emmett, who threw for 154 yards and three touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Lathrop was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 222 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 211 rushing yards in three consecutive matches.
Lathrop wouldn't let Soldotna keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Bishop Andreanoff was the leader in that area as all came courtesy of his dominant performance.
Meanwhile, West Valley was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Friday as they fell 28-22 to North Pole. The Wolf Pack have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Lathrop's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 4-4. As for West Valley, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-3.
Everything came up roses for Lathrop against West Valley in their previous meeting back in September of 2023, as the team secured a 71-20 win. In that game, Lathrop amassed a halftime lead of 52-14, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Saturday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
