After two games on the road, Merkel is heading back home. They will welcome the Albany Lions at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Last Friday, Merkel had to suffer through a 47-6 loss at the hands of Hawley. While losing is never fun, the Badgers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 1002nd, while the Bearcats are ranked 241st).
Albany never got on the board in their matchup two weeks ago, but that sure wasn't the case in their game against Seymour last Friday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat the Panthers 35-7 at home. The Lions pushed the score to 28-7 by the end of the third, a deficit the Panthers had little chance of recovering from.
Branson Beal was a one-man wrecking crew for Albany as he rushed for 190 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 10.6 yards per carry. The dominant performance gave Beal a new career-high in rushing yards. Calhan Fairchild made the highlight reel by snagging an interception and taking it all the way to the house.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Albany was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 295 rushing yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Seymour only rushed for 62.
Albany's defense made their presence known, laying out Brayden Loyd. 8.5 times. The heavy lifting was done by Coy Flowers and Zane Green who racked up four sacks between them.
Merkel's loss dropped their record down to 0-3. As for Albany, their win was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 1-2.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
