The Gresham Gophers will take on Nelson at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Gresham is out to stop a seven-game streak of losses at home dating back to last season.
Gresham is headed into the match out to prove that what happened against Sandy on Thursday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Gresham was outmatched by Sandy on the road and fell 61-21.
Despite the defeat, Gresham got top-tier performance from Liam Arnold, who rushed for 146 yards and a touchdown on only 14 carries, and also threw for 130 yards on nine of 16 attempts. Those 146 rushing yards gave Arnold a new career-high.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Gresham was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 222 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Nelson faced Central Catholic in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Friday. Nelson lost 37-12 to Central Catholic. Nelson was red-hot offensively headed into the matchup (they scored no less than 31 points in the four games prior) but Central Catholic's defense proved too tough.
Gresham's loss dropped their record down to 1-5. As for Nelson, they moved to 4-2 with that defeat, which also ended their four-game winning streak.
Gresham was dealt a bruising 40-7 loss at the hands of Nelson when the teams last played back in October of 2023. Can Gresham avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
