The Portage Mustangs are headed away from home for the first time to take on the River Valley Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Portage is headed into the matchup after thoroughly thrashing Conemaugh Valley: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Portage blew Conemaugh Valley out of the water with a 47-8 final score. The Mustangs pushed the score to 34-0 by the end of the third, a deficit the Blue Jays had no chance of recovering from.
Portage's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Bode Layo, who picked up 109 receiving yards and a touchdown, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground. Layo got the majority of those yards when he pulled down a pass and and took off for a gain of64 yards. Another passer making a difference was Easton Slanoc, who threw for 157 yards and two touchdowns on only ten passes.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Portage was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 333 rushing yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Conemaugh Valley only rushed for 227.
Meanwhile, everything went River Valley's way against Conemaugh Township on Friday as River Valley made off with a 39-14 win. The match was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 32-0.
The victory snapped Portage's losing streak at four games dating back to last season and leaves them with a 1-1 record. As for River Valley, their win was their fifth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 1-1.
Portage took a serious blow against River Valley in their previous matchup back in October of 2023, falling 41-6. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of River Valley's Sam Yanits, who rushed for 173 yards and four touchdowns on only 13 carries. Now that Portage knows 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
