The Sand Creek Scorpions will face off against the Palmer Terrors at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Sand Creek has four straight wins, Palmer has six straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Sand Creek is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They really took it to Widefield for the full four quarters, racking up an 80-35 victory. The Scorpions pushed the score to 66-35 by the end of the third, a deficit the Gladiators had no chance of recovering from.
Ethan Mangrum
| 09/19/25 vs Widefield | 249 |
| 09/05/25 vs Air Academy | 100 |
| 08/29/25 @ Harrison | 211 |
| 08/22/25 vs Denver East | 190 |
| 10/31/24 @ Grand Junction | 128 |
| + 7 more games |
Sand Creek's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Ethan Mangrum led the charge by rushing for 249 yards and one touchdown while picking up 15.6 yards per carry, and also picking up 65 receiving yards and one TD. Mangrum's rushing production has been exceptional for a while as that marked his 12th straight game with at least 100 rushing yards dating back to last season. Another player making a difference was Treven Rick, who rushed for 48 yards and a pair of scores.
They were just one part of a punishing run game: Sand Creek was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 495 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 184 rushing yards in 13 consecutive games dating back to last season.
Special teams also deserves some recognition, posting 18 points in total. The biggest highlight from special teams (and perhaps the team as a whole) came courtesy of Mangrum, who ran a kickoff back for a touchdown.
Meanwhile, Palmer took a blow against Liberty last Thursday, falling 43-6.
Sand Creek's win bumped their record up to 4-0. As for Palmer, their loss dropped their record down to 0-4.
Friday's contest might be decided in the trenches. Sand Creek has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 384 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for Palmer, though, as they've been averaging only 69.2 rushing yards. How will they fare against such a dominant running game?
Everything came up roses for Sand Creek against Palmer when the teams last played back in September of 2024, as the squad secured a 56-0 victory. Will the Scorpions repeat their success, or do the Terrors have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
