MERKEL – Merkel and Stanton faced off in a defensive battle last Friday and for the second straight year, Merkel beat the Buffaloes by shutout at Badger Stadium in Merkel.
After last week’s offensive explosion, many had Stanton beating Merkel by a couple scores. But the Buffalo offense never found any type of rhythm and only managed 70 total yards of offense. Merkel gained 238 yards on the night and scored a touchdown in each half. The badger’s first half touchdown was a 40yard pass from Joey Zink to Maddox O’Malley. The second half score was a 12yard touchdown run by Elijah Olivarez. Stanton’s offense was led by quarterback Jake Benedict with five completions for 30 yards. Catching those passes were Cody Hancock and Bret Davis. Hancock hauled in three catches for six yards and David brought in two receptions for 24 yards. Leading the ground attack for the Buffaloes was Kameron Isemann with 18 yards. Benedict ended the game with 15 yards and Ryan Andler added 13 yards. Andler led the defense with 12 tackles and Aiden Hinojosa added 10. Ethan Anaya and Alex Flores tossed in eight tackles each followed by Jahir Galindo with seven and Landen McDaniel with five.
Iemann and Davis brought down four Badgers each while Adam Booth, Tyler Waggoner, Carlos Salcido, and Raphel Rivera recorded three tackles each.
Adrian Scott and Benedict rounded out the tackles with two each.
Hinojosa and Isemann tallied one sack and one hurry each while Flores and Rivera had one hurry apiece.