King is on a five-game streak of home wins (dating back to last season), while Murrieta Valley is on a seven-game streak of away wins (also dating back to last season): one of those streaks is about to end. The King Wolves will host the Murrieta Valley Nighthawks at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. King's defense has only allowed 12.5 points per game this season, so Murrieta Valley's offense will have their work cut out for them.
Last Friday, King had just enough and edged Poly out 21-18. Given the Wolves' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 136th, while the Bears are ranked 356th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
One reason for the win was King's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for five sacks. Andrew Dixon was especially locked on to Poly's QB and sacked him three times. Dixon is also on a roll when it comes to sacks, as he's now sacked three or more in the last three games he's played dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, while Murrieta Valley put up plenty of points on Friday, the same can't be said for Murrieta Mesa. Murrieta Valley simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Murrieta Mesa 42-0 at home.
Murrieta Valley's success was spearheaded by the efforts of TY ISAIA, who threw for 186 yards and two touchdowns, and Dorian Hoze, who rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries. Another big playmaker for Murrieta Valley was CAM CONNOR, who returned a punt for a touchdown.
King's win bumped their record up to 4-0. As for Murrieta Valley, they now have a winning record of 2-1.
Thursday's match might be decided in the trenches. King has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 211.2 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Murrieta Valley struggles in that department as they've been averaging 161.3. It's looking like Thursday's matchup might have some serious battles in the trenches.
King suffered a grim 48-24 defeat to Murrieta Valley in their previous meeting back in September of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Murrieta Valley's Bear Bachmeier, who threw for 228 yards and five touchdowns while completing 82.6% of his passes. Now that King knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
