On Saturday, Tulelake faced Branson in a battle between two of the state's top teams. The Tulelake Honkers took a 36-30 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Branson Bulls. The Honkers gained 107 more yards on the day, but it was the Bulls that made the best use of them.
Several Honkers players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Xavier Silva, who rushed for 129 yards and three touchdowns on only 14 carries, and also threw for 146 yards and a touchdown. The dominant performance gave Silva a new career-high in rushing yards. Danny Garcia also helped out as he racked up 145 rushing yards.
Even though they lost, Tulelake was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 289 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 200 rushing yards in three consecutive matchups.
Tulelake wouldn't let Branson keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force three fumbles. Silva was the leader in that area as all came courtesy of his dominant performance.
Branson can attribute much of their success to Tom Lardner, who threw for 218 yards and three touchdowns while completing 94.7% of his passes, and also rushed for 53 yards on only five carries. Lardner didn't just play on offense: he also forced a fumble and made 11 total tackles (1.0 for loss). 86 of those passing yards were hauled in by James Stovell, who also brought in a receiving touchdown.
Having lost for the first time this season, Tulelake fell to 2-1. As for Branson, they pushed their record up to 2-1 with the victory, which was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season.
Tulelake will take on Rogue River at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. As for Branson, they will have plenty of time to enjoy the win as they don't play again for a while. They'll take on Swett at 4:30 p.m. on October 10th.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
