The Watonga Eagles will head out to challenge the Hooker Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Watonga has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the game with 18 straight losses, while Hooker will come in with seven straight wins.
Watonga's offense might be in the hot seat on Friday considering what happened against Crescent on Friday. They were beaten by the Tigers 33-0. While getting shut out isn't ideal, the Eagles haven't been shut out since back in September.
Meanwhile, Hooker humbled Merritt with a 47-8 victory. The Bulldogs might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won six contests by 30 points or more this season.
Hooker's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Justin Palacios, who rushed for 161 yards and three touchdowns on only 11 carries, and Kleat Martens, who rushed for 55 yards and a touchdown on only six carries. Palacios' rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his third straight game with at least 161 rushing yards.
Hooker was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 281 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 158 rushing yards in four consecutive matches.
Hooker didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of James Curtis and Palacios.
Watonga's defeat dropped their record down to 0-8. As for Hooker, their victory was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 7-1.
Watonga was dealt a bruising 61-0 loss at the hands of Hooker in their previous matchup back in September of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Martens, who rushed for 56 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries, and also threw for 141 yards and a touchdown while completing 72.7% of his passes. Now that Watonga 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
