Preview: King Panthers vs. Atascocita Eagles
King is 0-5 against Atascocita since October of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. The King Panthers will head out on the road to face off against the Atascocita Eagles at 6:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Last Thursday, King really took it to Beaumont United for the full four quarters, racking up a 58-14 victory at home. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as King just coasted through the last quarter.
King relied on the efforts of Vincent Jones, who picked up 136 receiving yards and two touchdowns, and Darius Clark-James, who threw for 291 yards and four touchdowns while completing 77.8% of his passes. Mekhi Emerenini also deserves a shout-out for his two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Atascocita put another one in the bag on Saturday to keep their undefeated season alive. They blew past Humble 67-13 on the road. Given Atascocita's advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked third, while Humble is ranked 204th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
King has been no stranger to the win column this season, as they've started out with wins in six of their first seven contests, giving them a 6-1 record. As for Atascocita, their win was their ninth straight on the road (dating back to last season), which bumped their overall record up to 7-0.
King was dealt a bruising 39-6 loss at the hands of Atascocita in their previous matchup back in October of 2022. Can King avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
