The Palma Chieftains will head out on the road to take on the North Salinas Vikings at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Palma knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 31 points or more in their past seven matchups -- so hopefully North Salinas likes a good challenge.
On Friday, Palma needed a bit of extra time to put away Salinas. In a tight contest that could have gone either way, they made off with a 42-41 victory over the Cowboys. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Chieftains have posted since November 23, 2024.
It was another big night for Eli Dukes, who rushed for 325 yards and four TDs while picking up 14.1 yards per carry. His longest rush was for an incredible 70 yards.
Meanwhile, North Salinas played a tough game on Thursday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They had to suffer through a 41-12 loss at the hands of Soquel. While losing is never fun, the Vikings can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 337th, while the Knights are ranked 61st).
Palma's victory was their sixth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 7-0. As for North Salinas, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 4-3.
Everything came up roses for Palma against North Salinas in their previous meeting back in October of 2017, as the squad secured a 48-6 win. In that matchup, the Chieftains amassed a halftime lead of 34-0, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps