Palma (8-1) vs. San Benito (7-3) at Rabobank, 7:30 p.m.
With Rabobank being the home for the Balers this fall while their new stadium is being built, this is their home game for this Gabilan Division title bout.
Palma has won 10 of the last 12 decisions between the two long-time rivals that go back to their days in the old MTAL. However, the games have often been nailbitters.
Nine of the last 12 games have been decided by 7, 3, 1, 3, 1, 4, 1, 8 and last year's 29-27 Chieftains win at Rabobank.
Both teams are coming off big wins with Palma knocking Aptos from the unbeaten ranks with a goal line stand as time expired, and San Benito going into Salinas and beating the reigning champions.
The Chieftains and San Benito come into the game riding five-game winning streaks, putting them in position for a share of the Gabilan Division title.
Quarterback Grant Sergent is coming off a five-touchdown effort last week, extending his streak of not throwing an interception to 322 attempts.
With Sergent's favorite target Micah Olivas drawing extra attention last week, he hooked up with Jon Jon Berring and Marco Pezzini for all five of his scoring tosses.
Palma still has a pretty good running game with Anthony Villegas, who went over 100 yards rushing last week for the 17th time in his last 19 games.
The Balers game plan isn't a mystery. Yet, opponents can not seem to stop the run, as they rushed for over 400 yards last week, while throwing the ball twice.
Stevan Navarro had a monster game for the Balers with 284 yards last week. Complimenting him was Juan De Leon, who went over 100 yards rushing for the second straight week.
Palma struggled against the run last week, giving up 459 rushing yards. Yet, a stop at the one-yard line by Pezzini as time expired preserved the win.
The Chieftains are averaging 40.8 points a game during their five game winning streak while San Benito is averaging 36 points during its run of five straight wins.
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