The West Valley Eagles will be staying on the road on Friday to face off against the East Nicolaus Spartans at 7:30 p.m.
Last Friday, West Valley took a blow against Foothill, falling 41-14. While losing is never fun, the Eagles can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 639th, while the Cougars are ranked 219th).
Meanwhile, after only 12 points in their last matchup, East Nicolaus made sure to put some points up on the board against Marysville on Friday. East Nicolaus walked away with a 50-37 win over Marysville.
Mason Taylor was nothing short of spectacular: he rushed for 178 yards and five touchdowns, and also threw for 120 yards and a touchdown. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in rushing yards.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, East Nicolaus was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 312 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 166 rushing yards in eight consecutive matches dating back to last season.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to East Nicolaus' defensive line and their four sacks. Leading the way was Jaydan Marshall with two.
West Valley's defeat dropped their record down to 0-3. As for East Nicolaus, they now have a winning record of 2-1.
West Valley strolled past East Nicolaus in their previous meeting back in September of 2023 by a score of 35-20. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Taylor, who rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown, and also threw for 173 yards and a touchdown. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will West Valley still be able to contain Taylor? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
