The Gary West Side Cougars will square off against the Kankakee Valley Kougars at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Kankakee Valley took a loss in their last game and will be looking to turn the tables on Gary West Side, who comes in off a win.
Gary West Side lost a heartbreaker the last time they played Calumet New Tech, but it's fair to say they got their revenge given the result of Friday's matchup. The Cougars simply couldn't be stopped on Friday as they easily beat the Warriors 36-0. 36 seems to be a good number for the Cougars as the team scooped up a win with the same number of points in their previous game.
Marcell Dixon
| 10/17/25 vs Calumet New Tech | 119.3 |
| 08/29/25 @ East Chicago Central | 97.9 |
| 09/05/25 @ Hammond Central | 80.4 |
| 09/12/25 @ River Forest | 77.3 |
| 09/26/25 vs Wheeler | 54.4 |
Gary West Side got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Marcell Dixon out in front who rushed for 82 yards and one TD on only six carries, and also threw for 89 yards and one touchdown on only eight passes. The dominant performance also gave Dixon a new career-high in passer rating (119.3). Kamari Loggins was another key back, rushing for 158 yards and a pair of scores.
They were just one part of a punishing run game: Gary West Side was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 249 rushing yards. They are a perfect 3-0 when they've run for more than 200 yards.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Gary West Side's defense and their three sacks. Loggins refused to say out of the backfield, picking up a sack all by himself. Gary West Side got some further help from Timothy Clay: he made eight total tackles (1.0 for loss) and defended one pass in addition to snagging an interception.
Meanwhile, Kankakee Valley didn't have quite enough to beat Munster on Friday and fell 17-14. While the Kougars had to settle for second, they closed the game well in the third quarter, where they outscored the Mustangs 7-3.
Gary West Side's win was their first in the conference, bumping their conference record up to 1-3 and their overall record up to 4-4. As for Kankakee Valley, they dropped their record down to 1-8 with the defeat, which was their fifth straight at home.
Gary West Side lost to Kankakee Valley at home by a decisive 37-22 margin when the teams last played back in October of 2023. Thankfully for the Cougars, Marco Castro (who rushed for 190 yards and a pair of touchdowns while picking up 7.6 yards per carry) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
