The Merced Bears are taking a road trip to take on the Los Banos Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Los Banos will face off against a team with plenty of momentum: Merced extended their winning streak to six on Friday. The Bears breezed past Golden Valley to the tune of 51-6. The final result isn't all that surprising considering the Bears' considerable advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 121st, while the Cougars are ranked 728th).
Dougie Andrews continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 93 yards and a pair of touchdowns on only 11 carries. Anthony Tachiera was in the mix as well, providing Merced with two scores.
They were just one part of a punishing run game: Merced was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 220 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 220 rushing yards in five consecutive matchups.
Merced's defense stepped up as well, laying out the QB seven times. The heavy lifting was done by Tyson Espinoza and Gavyn Maravilla-Sok, who racked up four sacks between them. The game marked Espinoza's first with multiple sacks this season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Los Banos). Everything went their way against El Capitan on Friday as they made off with a 42-21 win.
The victory got Los Banos back to even at 3-3. As for Merced, their win bumped their record up to 6-0.
Everything came up roses for Merced against Los Banos when the teams last played back in October of 2024, as the team secured a 45-7 victory. In that game, the Bears amassed a halftime lead of 38-0, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
