Hooker has gone 8-0 against Merritt recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Hooker Bulldogs are taking a road trip to face off against the Merritt Oilers at 7:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Hooker has six straight wins, Merritt has four straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Last Thursday, Hooker was fully in charge, breezing past Fairview 38-7 at home. The Bulldogs might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won five matches by 30 points or more this season.
It was another big night for Kleat Martens, who rushed for 168 yards and three touchdowns on only 15 carries, and also threw for 34 yards and a touchdown. That's the most rushing yards he has posted since back in September of 2023. Justin Palacios was another key player, rushing for 167 yards and a touchdown on only 12 carries.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Hooker's defense and their nine sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Nate Hidalgo and Peyton Parker, who racked up four sacks between them. Another thorn in Fairview's side was Hunter Ray, who picked up a sack and made ten total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Hooker was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 361 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 158 rushing yards in seven consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, Merritt fell victim to Hinton and their airtight defense on Thursday. They were beaten by the Comets 45-0. The matchup marked the first time this season in which the Oilers were not able to get on the board.
Hooker pushed their record up to 6-1 with the victory, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season. As for Merritt, their defeat dropped their record down to 1-6.
Everything came up roses for Hooker against Merritt in their previous meeting back in October of 2023, as the team secured a 49-13 win. Will Hooker repeat their success, or does Merritt have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
