After each having a week off, the Foothill Cougars and the Lassen Grizzlies will dust off their jerseys to square off against one another at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Foothill took a loss when they played away from home on September 6th, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed two weeks ago. They really took it to West Valley for the full four quarters, racking up a 41-14 win at home. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as the Cougars just coasted through the last quarter.
Foothill can attribute much of their success to Justin Munns, who rushed for 112 yards on only 11 carries. Munns' longest rush was for an impressive 53 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Foothill was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 257 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in October of 2023.
Foothill wouldn't let West Valley keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force three fumbles. It was truly a group effort as Porter Layne, Kadin Segrest, and Segrest picked up one apiece.
Meanwhile, Lassen was fully in charge two weeks ago, breezing past Enterprise 62-34 at home.
Dathen Moore was nothing short of spectacular: he rushed for 255 yards and four touchdowns on only 15 carries. His rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his third straight game with at least 185 rushing yards dating back to last season. The team also got some help courtesy of Dowan Stephens, who rushed for 113 yards and two touchdowns on only 15 carries.
Foothill pushed their record up to 2-1 with the victory, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season. As for Lassen, their win (their first of the season) made their record 1-2.
Friday's match might be decided in the on the ground. Foothill has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 167.7 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Lassen struggles in that department as they've been averaging 386.3. It's looking like Friday's matchup might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Foothill took their victory against Lassen in their previous meeting back in September of 2023 by a conclusive 34-14. The rematch might be a little tougher for Foothill 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
