Football Preview: Nemaha Central Thunder vs. Atchison County Tigers
Nemaha Central is 8-0 against Atchison County since September of 2014, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Nemaha Central Thunder will face off against the Atchison County Tigers at 7:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Nemaha Central has six straight wins, Atchison County has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Last Friday, Nemaha Central got the win against Royal Valley by a conclusive 40-16. The Thunder might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four contests by 24 points or more this season.
Carter Hajek continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 409 yards and six touchdowns while picking up 19.5 yards per carry. Those 409 rushing yards gave him a new career-high.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Nemaha Central was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 453 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, a victory for Atchison County just wasn't in the cards on Friday as the team wasn't able to take the lead at any point. They came up short against Jefferson West, falling 29-6.
The losing side was boosted by Max Bottorff, who rushed for 93 yards and a touchdown. An impressive showing, but he really ramped things up playing D: he picked up a sack and made 14 total tackles.
Nemaha Central pushed their record up to 6-1 with the win, which was their third straight at home. As for Atchison County, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-5.
Friday's match will pit two of the most dominant backs against one another: Hajek and Bottorff. Hajek has put up some stellar numbers this year, and currently owns excellent season averages 182.9 rushing yards per game this season. For his part, Bottorff has averaged of 87.3 rushing yards per game this season.
Everything went Nemaha Central's way against Atchison County in their previous meeting back in September of 2021, as Nemaha Central made off with a 20-0 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Nemaha Central since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
