Football Preview: Victoria West Warriors vs. Gregory-Portland Wildcats
The Victoria West Warriors will face off against the Gregory-Portland Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Last Friday, Victoria West took their game with ease, bagging a 54-21 victory over Veterans Memorial. Given the Warriors' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 288th, while the Patriots are ranked 627th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
A big part of Victoria West's win came down to the chemistry between Dominick Martinez and his top target Tristan Bernard. Martinez threw for 316 yards and three touchdowns while completing 73% of his passes while Bernard gained 183 total yards and two touchdowns. Another player making a difference was Jenesis Jeffries, who rushed for 72 yards and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Gregory-Portland). They claimed a resounding 63-14 victory over King. With the Wildcats ahead 35-0 at the half, the match was all but over already.
Johnny Long had a dynamite game for Gregory-Portland, rushing for 93 yards and three touchdowns on only 11 carries. Those 93 rushing yards gave Long a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Carter Dominguez, who rushed for 66 yards and two touchdowns on only seven carries.
Gregory-Portland didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. It was truly a group effort as Ricardo Salinas, Ethan Tovar, and Camren Garcia picked up one apiece. Garcia also made eight total tackles, which is notable because Gregory-Portland is 2-1 when he posts at least three total tackles, but 3-4 otherwise.
Gregory-Portland was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 362 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Gregory-Portland is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 5-5 record this season. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 35.8 points. As for Victoria West, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 8-2.
Friday's contest might be decided in the on the ground. Victoria West has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 174.9 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Gregory-Portland struggles in that department as they've been averaging 247.6. It's looking like Friday's game might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Victoria West might still be hurting after the 52-27 loss they got from Gregory-Portland when the teams last played back in October of 2021. Thankfully for Victoria West, Dalvin Batts (who rushed for 312 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 8.9 yards per carry) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
