Preview: Clear Falls Knights vs. King Panthers
After two games on the road, Clear Falls is heading back home. They will take on the King Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Two teams were on the hunt for playoff glory, but only Clear Falls walked away with it. They really took it to Strake Jesuit for the full four quarters, racking up a 45-10 win on the road. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 28-3.
Landon Vessel had an outrageously good game as he threw for 273 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 12.4 yards per attempt, and also rushed for 93 yards and a touchdown. Vessel's longest rush was for an incredible 84 yards. Payton Greer was another key contributor, rushing for 47 yards and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, King stacked a fifth blowout onto their ever-increasing hoard on Friday. They blew past Channelview 70-21 on the road. Given King's advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 36th, while Channelview is ranked 429th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
The match pitted two key players against one another: Darius Clark-James and Tyrone Scyrus. Clark-James had a great game and rushed for 92 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries. Meanwhile, Scyrus did his best for the losing side, rushing for 83 yards and a touchdown.
Clear Falls has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 7-4 record this season. As for King, the win makes it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 8-3.
Clear Falls might still be hurting after the 30-7 loss they got from King in their previous matchup back in November of 2022. Thankfully for Clear Falls, Keith Willis jr (who rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
