The Walter Johnson Wildcats will challenge the Northwest Jaguars at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Walter Johnson proved they can win big two weeks ago (they won by 32) and on Thursday they proved they can win the close ones too. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 17-14 victory over Blake.
Jake Forburger
| 09/26/25 @ Wootton | 157.5 |
| 10/30/25 @ Blake | 130.5 |
| 10/10/25 @ Bethesda-Chevy Chase | 123.6 |
| 09/05/25 @ Gaithersburg | 116.7 |
| 09/19/25 vs Churchill | 60.2 |
| + 4 more games |
Jake Forburger was his usual excellent self, throwing for 184 yards and a pair of touchdowns on only 17 passes, while also rushing for 63 yards. His passing game has become a key predictor of Walter Johnson's success: the team is 3-1 when his passer rating is 100 or higher, but only 1-4 otherwise.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Northwest, who bounced back after a loss on the road two weeks ago. They blew past Blair 42-7 on Friday. The Jaguars might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four matchups by 30 points or more this season.
Northwest's win came from a few key players Walter Johnson will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Jayden Vongprachanh-Nelson, who threw for 287 yards and three TDs on only 19 passes, and also rushed for 37 yards and one score. Those 287 passing yards gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Isaiah Taylor, who rushed for 92 yards and a pair of touchdowns on only five carries.
They were just one part of a punishing run game: Northwest was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 211 rushing yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Blair only rushed for -16.
Northwest has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games. That's provided a nice bump to their 5-4 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 12.4 points on average over those games. As for Walter Johnson, their record is now 4-5.
Walter Johnson was taken down by Northwest 41-6 when the teams last played back in October. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Vongprachanh-Nelson, who threw for 240 yards and a pair of TDs while completing 86.7% of his passes, and also rushed for 43 yards and two scores. Now that the Wildcats know the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
