Football Preview: Taylor Wildcats vs. Umatilla Bulldogs
Taylor has gone 4-0 against Umatilla recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Taylor Wildcats will be staying on the road to face off against the Umatilla Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. Taylor will be hoping to continue their four-game streak of scoring more points each match than the last.
Taylor is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They breezed by Saint Francis Catholic on the road to the tune of 36-0 two weeks ago. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest win the Wildcats have posted since August 25, 2023.
Anthony Miler went supernova for Taylor, rushing for 171 yards and three touchdowns on only seven carries. Miler's longest rush was for an incredible 78 yards.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Taylor was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 350 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
One reason for the win was Taylor's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for three sacks. In fact, those sacks all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Anthony Cavallero.
Meanwhile, after only 12 points in their last matchup, Umatilla made sure to put some points up on the board against Lake Weir on Monday. Umatilla took down Lake Weir 48-34. With that victory, the Bulldogs brought their scoring average up to 26.6 points per game.
Josh Wilson had a dynamite game for Umatilla, throwing for 296 yards and three touchdowns while completing 73.3% of his passes, and also rushing for 41 yards. The dominant performance gave Wilson a new career-high in rushing yards. Bryce Norflee was another key player, picking up 134 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Umatilla wouldn't let Lake Weir keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force three fumbles. It was truly a group effort as Keegan St. Amant, Dallas Cottle, and Kellen Hatcher picked up one apiece. Hatcher also forced afumble, which is notable because Umatilla is undefeated when he posts at least one forced fumble, but 1-4 otherwise.
Taylor's win ended a five-game drought on the road dating back to last season and puts them at 2-3. As for Umatilla, the victory got them back to even at 4-4.
Friday's contest might be decided in the trenches. Taylor has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 196 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for Umatilla, though, as they've been averaging only 76. How will they fare against such a dominant running game?
Taylor took their win against Umatilla in their previous matchup back in October of 2020 by a conclusive 41-16. The rematch might be a little tougher for Taylor since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
