Woodland Park has won four straight games at home (dating back to last season), while Lamar has won four straight on the road, but those streaks won't matter much on Friday. The Woodland Park Panthers will host the Lamar Thunder at 7:00 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Lamar better have a healthy lead at halftime, because if last week is any indication, that's when Woodland Park really get things going. Woodland Park really took it to Banning Lewis Academy for the full four quarters, racking up a 43-7 win on the road. Considering the Panthers have won four contests by more than 23 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
It was another big night for Marqus Joseph Schoenberger, who rushed for 74 yards and a touchdown, and also threw for 94 yards and a touchdown.
Another reason for the win was Woodland Park's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for three sacks. Matteo Pizarro was especially locked on to Banning Lewis Academy's QB and sacked him twice. Pizarro also set a new season high mark in total tackles with 11.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Woodland Park was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 204 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 155 rushing yards in five consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, Lamar hadn't done well against La Junta recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Friday. Lamar took down La Junta 38-20. The Thunder pushed the score to 31-7 by the end of the third, a deficit the Tigers cut but never quite recovered from.
Lamar's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Cael Buxton, who picked up 102 receiving yards and three touchdowns. The team also got some help courtesy of Alex Aguilar, who rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown.
Lamar didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. It was truly a group effort as Buxton, Adriel Gonzalez, and Alexander Williams picked up one apiece. Gonzalez is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made 11 or more in the last five games he's played dating back to last season. Lamar got some further help from Diego Estrada: he made 18 total tackles.
Woodland Park's victory bumped their record up to 5-0. As for Lamar, their win bumped their record up to an identical 5-0.
Friday's match might be decided in the trenches. Woodland Park has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 190.2 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for Lamar, though, as they've been averaging only 83.8. How will they fare against such a dominant running game?
Everything came up roses for Woodland Park against Lamar in their previous matchup back in October of 2023, as the team secured a 49-13 victory. In that game, Woodland Park amassed a halftime lead of 42-7, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
