The Hershey Panthers will venture away from home to face off against the Gordon-Rushville Mustangs at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Hershey has three straight wins, Gordon-Rushville has six straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Hershey will bounce into Friday's game after beating Amherst, who they had gone 0-3 against in their three prior meetings. The Panthers came out on top against the Broncos by a score of 22-14 on Friday.
The critical scores for Hershey came from Landon Kennicutt, Rhodee Hill, and Zane Czarnick.
Hershey didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Kale Damoude and Ty Vaughn.
Meanwhile, Gordon-Rushville played a tough contest on Friday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They were dealt a 47-16 defeat at the hands of Kearney Catholic. The Mustangs were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 33-0.
Hershey will need to focus on slowing down Daniel Martins, one of several Gordon-Rushville players who made an impact when they last played. He picked up 123 receiving yards and one touchdown. The team also got some help courtesy of Kannon Leeper, who picked up 97 receiving yards and one TD.
Gordon-Rushville's loss dropped their record down to 0-6. As for Hershey, their victory bumped their record up to 4-2.
Friday's matchup might be decided in the trenches. Hershey has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 294.2 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for Gordon-Rushville, though, as they've been averaging only -0.8 rushing yards. How will they fare against such a dominant running game?
Hershey beat Gordon-Rushville 40-30 in their previous matchup back in October of 2024. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was the Mustangs' Kyler Vincent, who rushed for 236 yards and three scores while picking up 8.4 yards per carry. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be easier for the Panthers to walk away with another win? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
