The Masuk Panthers will head out on the road to challenge the Bethel Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Masuk is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Connecticut's top teams: Killingly, who was ranked fourth at the time (Masuk was ranked 21st). The Panthers were dealt a 42-7 loss at the hands of the Trailbazers on Friday. Having soared to a lofty 49 points in the game before, the Panthers couldn't push the score so high this time.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Bethel). They came out on top against New Milford by a score of 34-24 on Friday. The Wildcats pushed the score to 27-6 by the end of the third, a deficit the Green Wave cut but never quite recovered from.
Bethel's win came from a few key players Masuk will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Mirsad Cekovic, who rushed for 194 yards and a pair of TDs while picking up 8.1 yards per carry. Those 194 rushing yards gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Kaden Islami, who gained 174 total yards and two touchdowns.
Bethel was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 454 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 221 rushing yards in three consecutive games.
Masuk's defeat ended a five-game streak of away wins dating back to last season and brought them to 2-3. As for Bethel, their victory was their first in the league, bumping their league record up to 1-2 and their overall record up to 2-3.
Everything came up roses for Masuk against Bethel in their previous matchup back in October of 2024, as the squad secured a 42-0 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Panthers 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
