The Emerald Ridge Jaguars are taking a road trip to challenge the Sumner Spartans at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be battling to keep a four-game winning streak alive.
Emerald Ridge will roll into the game after a wild two-game stretch: they only put up seven points last Friday, then bounced right back against South Kitsap on Friday. Emerald Ridge blew past South Kitsap 35-14. Given the Jaguars' advantage in MaxPreps' Washington football rankings (they are ranked 30th, while the Wolves are ranked 93rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Emerald Ridge to victory, but perhaps none more so than Mal Mal Akuffo, who rushed for 130 yards while picking up 7.2 yards per carry. Robert Lutz also helped with two touchdowns in total.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Emerald Ridge was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 261 rushing yards. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 88 rushing yards per game earlier this season, but in their last three matchups they've averaged 224.
Meanwhile, Sumner and Curtis met for a duel on Friday where Sumner came out on top. Sumner skirted past Curtis 14-12. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Spartans have posted against the Vikings since September 21, 2018.
Emerald Ridge pushed their record up to 5-2 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road. As for Sumner, their record is now 6-1.
Emerald Ridge strolled past Sumner in their previous meeting back in September of 2023 by a score of 42-28. The rematch might be a little tougher for Emerald Ridge since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
