Football Game Preview: Merkel Badgers vs. Grape Creek Eagles

The Merkel Badgers will venture away from home to face off against the Grape Creek Eagles at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Grape Creek took a loss in their last game and will be looking to turn the tables on Merkel, who comes in off a win.

Merkel will roll into the matchup after a wild two-game stretch: they only put up 13 points on October 10th, then bounced right back against Stanton on Friday. The Badgers breezed past the Buffaloes to the tune of 48-9. Considering the Badgers have won four contests by more than 32 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.

Easton Malone and Cj Guadarrama were among the main playmakers for Merkel as the former threw for 253 yards and four TDs on only 13 passes and the latter rushed for 92 yards and three touchdowns on only nine carries. Malone has become a key player for the Badgers: the team is undefeated when he posts at least three passing touchdowns, but 1-2 otherwise.

Merkel didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Eli Delgado and Jose Ortiz.

Meanwhile, after soaring to 52 points the game before, Grape Creek was a bit more limited in their game on Friday. They were dealt a 48-0 defeat at the hands of Wall. The matchup marked the first time this year in which the Eagles were not able to get on the board.

Merkel is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 6-2 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 46.4 points over those games. As for Grape Creek, their loss dropped their record down to 5-4.

Merkel couldn't quite finish off Grape Creek when the teams last played back in November of 2024 and fell 14-12. Can the Badgers avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.