The Jacksboro Tigers put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their undefeated season alive. They blew past Merkel 78-13 at home. The result was nothing new for Jacksboro, who have now won five contests by 22 points or more so far this season.
Jacksboro was led to victory by Luke Sams and Lando Belcher. Sams rushed for 129 yards and four touchdowns on only 13 carries, while Belcher threw for 313 yards and four touchdowns while completing 85.7% of his passes. Sams is on a roll when it comes to rushing yards, as he's now rushed for 100 or more in the last eight games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Cannon Valenzuela, who picked up 152 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Jacksboro's victory was their fourth straight at home (dating back to last season), bumping their overall record up to 8-0. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 57.0 points per game. As for Merkel, their defeat ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 5-3.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Jacksboro will square off against Millsap at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams might be coming in a bit winded given how much these teams ran in their prior games. As for Merkel, they will head out on the road to face off against Comanche at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. That game will pit two of the most dominant signal callers against one another: Layden Welch and Maddox O'malley.
