Football Preview: Rifle Bears vs. Palisade Bulldogs
The Rifle Bears will venture away from home to take on the Palisade Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Rifle hasn't scored more than 12 points for five games straight, a trend the squad is eager to reverse.
Rifle is headed into the game out to prove that what happened against University last Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Rifle lost 34-9 to University.
The losing side was boosted by Isaac Valencia, who rushed for 79 yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, the third road contest was the charm for Palisade, as they earned their first road win of the season. They took their match on the road on Thursday with ease, bagging a 42-6 victory over Summit. That 36 point margin sets a new team best for the Bulldogs this season.
Easton Embrey was a one-man wrecking crew for Palisade as he rushed for 123 yards and two touchdowns on only seven carries. Those 123 rushing yards gave Embrey a new career-high. Branson Springer was another key player, throwing for 77 yards and two touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Palisade was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 282 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 156 rushing yards in six consecutive matchups.
Rifle's defeat dropped their record down to 0-5. As for Palisade, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 4-2 record this season.
Rifle took a serious blow against Palisade when the teams last played back in August of 2021, falling 35-3. Thankfully for Rifle, Phallen Salvati (who rushed for 160 yards and three touchdowns on only eight carries) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
