The Palisade Bulldogs will square off against the Rifle Bears at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Palisade will be strutting in after a win while Rifle will be coming in after a loss.
Palisade is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They took their match on the road on Thursday with ease, bagging a 42-6 victory over Summit. With the Bulldogs ahead 28-0 at the half, the game was all but over already.
Easton Embrey had an outrageously good game as he rushed for 123 yards and two touchdowns on only seven carries. His longest rush was for an incredible 72 yards. 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.
Meanwhile, Rifle was not able to break out of their rough patch last Friday as the team picked up their sixth straight defeat dating back to last season. They lost 34-9 to University.
Rifle's loss came about despite a quality game from Isaac Valencia, who rushed for 79 yards and a touchdown.
Palisade is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 4-2 record this season. As for Rifle, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-5.
Friday's match might be decided in the trenches. Palisade has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 236.7 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for Rifle, though, as they've been averaging only 86.8. How will they fare against such a dominant running game?
Everything came up roses for Palisade against Rifle in their previous meeting back in August of 2021, as the team secured a 35-3 win. Will Palisade repeat their success, or does Rifle have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
