Football Preview: Troy Warriors vs. Irvine Vaqueros
The Troy Warriors will take on the Irvine Vaqueros at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Troy knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 31 points or more in their past eight matches -- so hopefully Irvine likes a good challenge.
Troy is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They breezed by Canyon at home to the tune of 58-23 on Friday. The result was nothing new for the Warriors, who have now won six games by 20 points or more so far this season.
Troy's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Ethan Mundt, who rushed for 159 yards and two touchdowns on only 15 carries, and also caught a touchdown. Mundt's longest rush was for an impressive 52 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Rudy Alcala was another key passer, throwing for 150 yards and five touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Irvine entered their tilt with El Toro on Friday with three consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with four. They snuck past the Chargers with a 22-17 win.
Irvine had a senior duo take command as Deacon Moss picked up 167 receiving yards and two touchdowns and Khoa Bui threw for 215 yards and two touchdowns on only 18 passes. What's more, Moss also racked up five rushing yards, the mosthe's had since back in October of 2023. Irvine also got a significant boost from Brandon Figueroa, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 109 yards.
Troy's victory bumped their record up to 7-1. As for Irvine, their win was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 6-2.
Troy and Irvine were almost perfectly matched up in their previous meeting back in September of 2023, but Troy suffered an agonizing 43-42 defeat. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Figueroa, who rushed for 229 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 8.2 yards per carry, and also caught a touchdown. Now that Troy knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
