The Independence Knights are taking a road trip to square off against the Walnut Grove Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Independence is no doubt hoping to put an end to an eight-game streak of away losses dating back to last season.
Independence is headed into the game out to prove that what happened against Emerson on Thursday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Independence was beaten by Emerson 63-7. The Knights were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 42-0.
The match pitted two dominant signal callers against one another in Logan Murindagomo and DJ Shelton. Shelton had a great game and threw for 198 yards and two touchdowns while completing 73.3% of his passes. Meanwhile, Murindagomo was balling out in the loss, rushing for 128 yards and a touchdown on only 12 carries.
Even though they lost, Independence was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 204 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in October of 2023.
Meanwhile, Walnut Grove's game on Friday was all tied up 28-28 at the half, but luckily for them it didn't stay that way. They came out on top against Melissa by a score of 37-28. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Wildcats.
Walnut Grove found their leader in freshman Hayes Hackney, who threw for 380 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 10.6 yards per attempt. Zaiden Crain was another key player, picking up 127 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Special teams played a big role in the game for Walnut Grove, adding 13 points to the final score. All those points came courtesy of Dominic Sciano: he added nine points with three field goals, and another four kicking extra points.
Independence's record is now 2-7. As for Walnut Grove, their record is now 8-1.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
