Football Preview: Orland Trojans vs. Red Bluff Spartans
The Orland Trojans will head out on the road to take on the Red Bluff Spartans at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Orland is looking to tack on another W to their five-game streak on the road dating back to last season.
Orland is probably headed into the match with a chip on their shoulder considering Shasta just ended the team's three-game winning streak on Friday. They fell 22-15 to the Wolves. That makes it the first time this season the Trojans have let down their home crowd.
Despite the loss, Orland got top-tier performance from Luke Schager, who rushed for 178 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.1 yards per carry. The dominant performance gave Schager a new career-high in rushing yards.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Red Bluff). They blew past Corning 49-14 at home on Friday. Given the Spartans' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 217th, while the Cardinals are ranked 643rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Kayden Leaf, who threw for 258 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 12.3 yards per attempt, and also rushed for 57 yards and a touchdown. Another player making a difference was Zach Shaver, who rushed for 73 yards and two touchdowns on only ten carries.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Red Bluff was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 220 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 188 rushing yards in six consecutive contests dating back to last season.
Having lost for the first time this season, Orland fell to 3-1. As for Red Bluff, their record is now 4-0.
Things could have been worse for Orland, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took an 18-0 loss to Red Bluff when the teams last played back in March of 2021. Thankfully for Orland, Clyde Shaver (who rushed for 106 yards and two touchdowns on only 15 carries, and also threw for 98 yards and a touchdown on only seven passes) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
