Football Preview: Ironwood Ridge Nighthawks vs. Nogales Apaches
Ironwood Ridge is 6-0 against Nogales since September of 2016, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Ironwood Ridge Nighthawks will take on the Nogales Apaches at 7:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Ironwood Ridge has five straight victories, Nogales has 17 straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Ironwood Ridge will head into Friday's game hoping to keep the good times rolling: they proved they can win big on October 4th (they won by 21) but last Friday they proved they can win the close ones too. They skirted past Tucson High Magnet School 30-27.
It was another big night for Jaiden Martinez, who threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns, and also rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown on only nine carries. Grant Dooling was Martinez's top target, picking up 100 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Another reason for the win was Ironwood Ridge's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for three sacks. David Baba was especially locked on to Tucson High Magnet School's QB and sacked him twice. Baba is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made seven or more in the last eight games he's played dating back to last season. Ironwood Ridge got some further help from Samuel Kleving: he picked up a sack and made seven total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, Friday just wasn't the day for Nogales' offense. They were dealt a 42-0 defeat at the hands of Mountain View on Friday.
Ironwood Ridge's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 6-1. As for Nogales, their loss dropped their record down to 0-7.
Everything came up roses for Ironwood Ridge against Nogales when the teams last played back in October of 2023, as the team secured a 54-0 victory. Will Ironwood Ridge repeat their success, or does Nogales have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
