A feisty cat fight will be fought when Tigers challenges the West Panthers at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Orem is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 36.1 points per game this season.
Orem is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Utah's top teams: Timpview, who was ranked fourth in their home state at the time (Orem was ranked tenth). Orem lost to Timpview at home by a 35-21 margin two weeks ago. The contest marked the Tigers' lowest-scoring game so far this season.
Despite the defeat, Orem got top-tier performance from Feleti Iongi, who rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown while picking up 7.2 yards per carry.
Even though they lost, Orem was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 203 rushing yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Timpview only rushed for 99.
Meanwhile, with a playoff game on the line, West rose to the challenge on Friday. They really took it to the Warriors for the full four quarters, racking up a 68-14 win. The Panthers' offense stepped up their game for this one, as that was the most points they've scored all season.
It was another big night for Izaiah Holley, who threw for 403 yards and seven touchdowns while completing 84.2% of his passes, and also rushed for 37 yards. Louie Hamilton was another key player, picking up 111 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
West's defense stepped up as well, laying out the QB 22 times. Takeshi Savery led the group effort, picking up four of those sacks all by himself. Mark Liavaa also sacked two sacks, which is notable because West is 3-1 when he posts at least one sack, but 3-4 otherwise. Taufa Florreich was another major factor on D, picking up a sack and making seven total tackles (4.0 for loss).
Orem's loss ended a seven-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 8-2. As for West, their victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 6-5.
The upcoming matchup will be a clash of competing strengths. Orem has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 186.1 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, West has preferred to attack from the air: they average 320.2 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
