Football Preview: Mountain Ridge Mountain Lions vs. Chandler Wolves
Mountain Ridge is 0-3 against Chandler since September of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Mountain Ridge Mountain Lions will square off against the Chandler Wolves at 7:00 p.m. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
While Mountain Lions fans will have to keep waiting for their team to come home, they shouldn't be too worried about the road trip considering the result of Friday's season opener. Their defense stepped up to hand Tolleson a 28-0 shutout on Friday.
A big part of the win came down to the chemistry between Lukas Baughman and his top target Vince Norfolk. Baughman threw for 175 yards and two touchdowns while Norfolk gained 150 total yards and a touchdown. Norfolk got the majority of those yards when he pulled down a pass and and took off for a gain of78 yards.
Mountain Ridge's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged three passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Brayden Fife and Ezra Villasenor. Fife's also deserves a shoutout for his performance on D, making three total tackles and defending a pass in addition to snagging two interceptions.
Meanwhile, Chandler took care of business in their home opener on Thursday. They walked away with a 27-18 victory over Cesar Chavez. Given the Wolves' advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona football rankings (they are ranked fifth, while the Champions are ranked 98th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Tristan Halsana was a one-man wrecking crew for Chandler as he rushed for 170 yards and a touchdown while picking up 9.4 yards per carry. The team also got some help courtesy of Will Mencl, who rushed for 31 yards and a touchdown.
Mencl wasn't the only one working in the rushing yards department: Chandler was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 209 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 159 rushing yards in four consecutive matches dating back to last season.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Chandler's defense and their four sacks. In that department, Xavier Senior was the leader with two. He also put in work on the defensive side of the ball, picking up two sacks and making three total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Mountain Ridge took a serious blow against Chandler in their previous matchup back in August of 2023, falling 49-7. Thankfully for Mountain Ridge, Ca'Lil Valentine (who rushed for 123 yards and three touchdowns on only eight carries) 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
