Football Preview: Golden Valley Cougars vs. Merced Bears
Golden Valley hasn't had much luck against Merced recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Golden Valley Cougars are taking a road trip to challenge the Merced Bears at 7:00 p.m. That match will pit two of the most dominant signal callers against one another: CJ Giamona and Antonia Lejarde.
Golden Valley's offense might be in the hot seat on Thursday considering what happened against El Capitan on Tuesday. They had to suffer through a 46-0 loss at the hands of the Gauchos. While losing is never fun, the Cougars can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 320th, while the Gauchos are ranked 88th).
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Merced, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Thursday. They breezed by Los Banos at home to the tune of 33-6 on Tuesday.
It was another big night for Lejarde, who threw for 271 yards and three touchdowns, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground. She is on a roll when it comes to passing touchdowns, as she's now passed for three or more in the last three games she's played. Samantha Barragan got in on the action as well, converting a pick into a touchdown.
Merced didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Alyssa Oseguera and Barragan.
Golden Valley is on a three-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 8-10. As for Merced, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last nine games, which provided a nice bump to their 12-5 record this season.
Golden Valley came up short against Merced in their previous meeting back in September, falling 20-7. Can Golden Valley avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
