The La Veta Redhawks will venture away from home to face off against the Branson/Kim Bearcats at 12:00 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully La Veta focused on turnovers this week as the team gave up four on Friday.
La Veta will bounce into Friday's matchup after beating Cotopaxi, who they hadn't topped in nine consecutive meetings. La Veta strolled past Cotopaxi with points to spare, taking the game 44-28. The high-scoring effort was just what the Redhawks needed considering they were shutout in their previous match.
Sunny Kent was nothing short of spectacular: he rushed for 185 yards and a touchdown while picking up 7.4 yards per carry, and also caught a touchdown. Kaydyn Kent was in the mix too, providing La Veta with two touchdowns.
La Veta wouldn't let Cotopaxi keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force three fumbles. It was truly a group effort as Matthew Gonzales, Kent, and Tayten Medina picked up one apiece. Medina also set a new season high mark in total tackles with 11.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, La Veta was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 208 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Branson/Kim had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 47 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Saturday. They breezed by the Trojans on the road to the tune of 80-7. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 49-7.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Branson/Kim to victory, but perhaps none more so than Kolter Cranson, who rushed for 95 yards and two touchdowns, and also caught a touchdown. Acoya Bartlett was another key back, gaining 50 total yards and three touchdowns.
Branson/Kim's defense stepped up as well, laying out the QB eight times. In that department, Will Doherty was the leader with five sacks. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in rushing yards.
The win snapped La Veta's losing streak at four games dating back to last season and leaves them with a 1-3 record. As for Branson/Kim, their record now sits at 4-1.
Friday's game might be decided in the on the ground. La Veta has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 151.2 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Branson/Kim struggles in that department as they've been averaging 212. It's looking like Friday's matchup might have some serious battles in the trenches.
La Veta might still be hurting after the 80-54 loss they got from Branson/Kim in their previous matchup back in October of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Cranson, who rushed for 314 yards and six touchdowns while picking up 18.5 yards per carry. Now that La Veta 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
