Preview: King Panthers vs. Clear Falls Knights
The King Panthers will head out on the road to face off against the Clear Falls Knights at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
With a playoff game on the line, King rose to the challenge on Friday. They really took it to Channelview for the full four quarters, racking up a 70-21 victory on the road. Considering King has won five matchups by more than 35 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Darius Clark-James continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 92 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries, while also throwing for 224 yards and four touchdowns while completing 73.3% of his passes. Rae'G Dailey was in the mix as well, providing King with two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Clear Falls waltzed into Friday's match with three straight wins but they left with four. They took their game on the road with ease, bagging a 45-10 victory over Strake Jesuit. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as Clear Falls just coasted through the last quarter.
Landon Vessel was a one-man wrecking crew for Clear Falls 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. Nathanial Cox also helped out as he racked up 118 receiving yards.
The win makes it two in a row for King and bumps their season record up to 8-3. As for Clear Falls, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 7-4 record this season.
Everything went King's way against Clear Falls when the teams last played back in November of 2022 as King made off with a 30-7 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for King since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
