The Gladewater Bears will venture away from home to challenge the West Rusk Raiders at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Last Friday, Gladewater took a blow against New Diana, falling 56-14. While losing is never fun, the Bears can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 504th, while the Eagles are ranked 209th).
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Grafton Morgan, who rushed for 35 yards and two touchdowns.
Morgan wasn't the only one working in the rushing yards department: Gladewater was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 272 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 169 rushing yards in five consecutive games dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for West Rusk, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Friday. They enjoyed a cozy 32-13 win over Diboll on Friday. The high-scoring effort was just what the Raiders needed considering they were shutout in their previous matchup.
West Rusk's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Hunter Mccandless, who rushed for 172 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.8 yards per carry, and Judson Dotson, who rushed for 84 yards and a touchdown on only eight carries. With that strong performance, Mccandless is now averaging an impressive 101.5 rushing yards per game.
Gladewater's record is now 1-1. As for West Rusk, they pushed their record up to 1-1 with that victory, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season.
Gladewater came out on top in a nail-biter against West Rusk when the teams last played back in October of 2019, sneaking past 22-19. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was West Rusk's Jaylon Shelton, who rushed for 187 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 11.0 yards per carry. Now that he won't be playing on Thursday, will it be easier for Gladewater to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
