El Capitan is 0-8 against Merced since October of 2016 but things could change on Friday. The Gauchos will host the Bears at 7:00 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, these teams will really light up the scoreboard.
As a matter of fact, El Capitan put up the most points they have all season on Friday. They were just a hair shy of victory and fell 42-41 to Atwater. The Gauchos were down 42-20 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.
Meanwhile, Merced put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They enjoyed a cozy 37-21 victory over Los Banos. The final result isn't all that surprising considering the Bears' considerable advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 154th, while the Tigers are ranked 392nd).
Merced's win came from a few key players El Capitan will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Vicente Cortez, who threw for 138 yards and two touchdowns while completing 78.6% of his passes, and also rushed for 47 yards. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in passer rating (148.2). Cammarri Jackson was another key player, rushing for 70 yards and a pair of scores.
Merced was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 239 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 220 rushing yards in three consecutive matchups.
El Capitan now has a losing record of 3-4. As for Merced, their win bumped their record up to 7-0.
El Capitan suffered a grim 54-32 defeat to Merced in their previous matchup back in October of 2024. That contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point the Gauchos were down 42-6.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
