The Wauneta-Palisade Broncos will take on the Southwest Roughriders on Friday. Wauneta-Palisade is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 34 points per game this season.
Southwest is facing Wauneta-Palisade at the wrong time: Wauneta-Palisade suffered their first home loss of the season on Friday and they're likely out for redemption. They took a blow against the Mustangs, falling 48-20. The match marked the Broncos' lowest-scoring matchup so far this season.
The match pitted two dominant backs against one another in Kreyton Wiese and Maddox Jones. Jones had a solid game and rushed for 71 yards and a touchdown on only five carries. Meanwhile, Wiese was balling out in the loss, rushing for 90 yards and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Southwest, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Friday. They claimed a resounding 51-20 victory over Medicine Valley at home. The Roughriders might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won three contests by 31 points or more this season.
A big part of Southwest's win came down to the chemistry between Houston Billeter and his top target Deric Kelley. Billeter threw for 167 yards and four touchdowns while Kelley picked up 77 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Billeter is on a roll when it comes to passing touchdowns, as he's now passed for three or more in the last five games he's played dating back to last season.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Southwest was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 249 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Wauneta-Palisade now has a losing record at 2-3. As for Southwest, they now have a winning record of 3-2.
The upcoming game will be a clash of competing strengths. Wauneta-Palisade has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 190.8 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Southwest has preferred to attack from the air: they average 276.6 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Wauneta-Palisade came up short against Southwest in their previous matchup back in September of 2023, falling 37-25. Can Wauneta-Palisade 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
