Merryville is 0-3 against Vinton since September of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Merryville Panthers will head out to challenge the Vinton Lions at 7:00 p.m. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
While Panthers fans will have to keep waiting for their squad to come home, they shouldn't be too worried about the road trip considering the result of Friday's season opener. They blew past North Central 50-6 on the road on Friday. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as the Panthers just coasted through the last quarter.
Jerimaya Robinson was nothing short of spectacular: he rushed for 112 yards and two touchdowns on only 13 carries. The dominant performance gave him a new career- in total yards. Lucas Tucker was in the mix as well, providing Merryville with two touchdowns.
Merryville's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged four passes before it was all said and done. Blaze Brister led the group effort, picking up two of those interceptions all by himself. Tucker also deserves a shoutout for his performance on D, picking up a sack, making six total tackles (1.0 for loss), and defending two passes in addition to snagging an interception which he returned one-yard for a touchdown.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Merryville was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 274 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 171 rushing yards in seven consecutive matches dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, Vinton came into Friday's matchup having lost eight straight, but that streak is now in the rearview. They came out on top against Oberlin by a score of 22-14 on Friday.
Merryville lost to Vinton on the road by a decisive 26-8 margin in their previous meeting back in September of 2023. Can Merryville 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
