Two dominant backs in Vaughn Gritzmacher and Sam Pehrson are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Tooele Buffaloes will be playing at home against the Murray Spartans at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both are strolling into their matches after big wins in their previous games.
Tooele is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They took their game on the road on Friday with ease, bagging a 42-7 win over Jordan. The victory was familiar territory for the Buffaloes who have now won three matchups in a row.
Gritzmacher was his usual excellent self, rushing for 261 yards and three touchdowns on only 12 carries. His longest rush was for an incredible 79 yards. Gus Pater also deserves a shout-out for his two touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Tooele was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 426 rushing yards. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 0 rushing yards per game earlier this season, but in their last three contests they've averaged 353.
Meanwhile, Murray blew past Hillcrest, posting a 45-7 win on the road. The match marked the Spartans' most dominant victory of the season.
It was another big night for Pehrson, who rushed for 202 yards and five touchdowns while picking up 8.8 yards per carry. He is on a roll when it comes to rushing touchdowns, as he's now punched in two or more in the last four games he's played dating back to last season. Evan Talbot was another key player, picking up 132 receiving yards and a touchdown.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Murray's defense and their three sacks. In that department, Tyler Wightman was the leader with two. He is becoming a predictor of Murray's success: when he posts at least one sack the team is undefeated (and 1-3 when he doesn't).
Tooele now has a winning record of 4-3. As for Murray, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a massive bump to their 4-3 record this season.
Everything came up roses for Tooele against Murray when the teams last played back in September of 2023, as the team secured a 49-14 win. In that matchup, Tooele 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
