Preview: Odessa Bronchos vs. Midland Legacy Rebels
Odessa is 1-8 against Midland Legacy since October of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Odessa Bronchos will look to defend their home field against the Midland Legacy Rebels at 7:00 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the pair posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Last Friday, Odessa had to suffer through a rough 77-49 loss at the hands of Frenship. While losing is never fun, Odessa can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 189th, while Frenship is ranked 43rd).
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Mikey Cota, who threw for 347 yards and seven touchdowns while completing 71.8% of his passes. Cota hasn't dropped below three passing touchdowns for four straight games. Ivan Carreon was another key contributor, picking up 112 receiving yards and four touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Midland Legacy didn't have too much trouble with Midland at home on Friday as they won 49-31. The win made it back-to-back wins for Midland Legacy.
Marcos Davila was his usual excellent self, throwing for 392 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 12.3 yards per attempt, and also punching in a rushing score. Another player making a difference was Damien Johnson, who rushed for 84 yards and two touchdowns.
This is the second loss in a row for Odessa and nudges their season record down to 5-4. Admittedly, the team was facing some tough opposition over that stretch, including 8-1 Midland (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 83.3% over those games). As for Midland Legacy, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a nice bump to their 7-2 record this season.
Keep an eye on the quarterbacks in this one, as both both teams don't mess around when it comes to the passing game. Odessa has been excellent in the air this season, having averaged 279.1 passing yards per game. However, it's not like Midland Legacy struggles in that department as they've been averaging 274.2 per game. It's looking like Friday's contest might be a classic QB duel.
Odessa was taken down by Midland Legacy 62-34 when the teams last played back in November of 2022. Will Odessa have more luck at home instead of on the road?
