Thomas Jefferson is 0-1 against Ponderosa since October of 2022 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. The Thomas Jefferson Spartans will head out on the road to face off against the Ponderosa Mustangs at 1:00 p.m. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Thomas Jefferson sitting on eight straight wins and Ponderosa on three.
Last Thursday, everything came up roses for Thomas Jefferson on the road against Liberty as the squad secured a 48-10 victory. Thomas Jefferson pushed the score to 41-0 by the end of the third, a deficit Liberty cut but never quite recovered from.
Thomas Jefferson's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Dimitri Haralambopoulos, who rushed for 131 yards and two touchdowns on only 13 carries, and also threw for 207 yards and two touchdowns while completing 71.4% of his passes. Another player making a difference was Jake Tapia, who rushed for 177 yards and two touchdowns on only ten carries.
Meanwhile, Ponderosa was fully in charge on Friday, breezing past Far Northeast W 49-7 on the road. The matchup was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 28-7.
Ponderosa can attribute much of their success to Max Mervin, who rushed for 86 yards and a touchdown on only 11 carries, and Sean Davis, who rushed for 169 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 8.5 yards per carry.
Thomas Jefferson's victory was their fourth straight on the road, which bumped their overall record up to 8-0. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 44.5 points per game. As for Ponderosa, their victory on Friday bumped their record up to 5-3.
We should be in store for an exciting game Saturday as Thomas Jefferson and Ponderosa have no problem gaining yardage. Thomas Jefferson has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 428.4 total yards per game. However, it's not like Ponderosa struggles in that department as they've been averaging 360.1 per game. With a pair of commanding offenses duking it out, the defenses are going to have their work cut out for them.
Thomas Jefferson and Ponderosa were almost perfectly matched up when the teams last played back in October of 2022, but Thomas Jefferson suffered an agonizing 7-6 loss. Can Thomas Jefferson avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
