The Blair Bears will face off against the Bennington Badgers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Blair has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the matchup with 11 straight defeats, while Bennington will come in with four straight wins.
Blair is headed into the contest out to prove that what happened against Elkhorn North on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. The Bears were dealt a 44-14 loss at the hands of the Wolves. While losing is never fun, the Bears can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska football rankings (they are ranked 78th, while the Wolves are ranked ninth).
Meanwhile, you can't lose the game if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Bennington's strategy against Gretna on Friday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that the Badgers blew the Dragons out of the water with a 35-7 final score. The game was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Badgers had established a 27-point advantage.
Blair better keep an eye on Ty Bouaphakeo. He was instrumental in Bennington's win, throwing for 308 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 12.8 yards per attempt, and also rushing for 90 yards. The dominant performance also gave Bouaphakeo a new career-high in passer rating (145.8). Bennington's leading receiver Parker Douglas was Bouaphakeo's top target yet again, picking up 162 receiving yards and a pair of scores.
One reason for the win was Bennington's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for three sacks. Jacob Sanger refused to say out of the backfield, picking up a sack all by himself.
Blair's defeat dropped their record down to 0-5. As for Bennington, their victory bumped their record up to 4-1.
Blair took a serious blow against Bennington in their previous meeting back in October of 2024, falling 35-7. That matchup was all but decided by halftime, at which point the Bears were down 28-0.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
