Football Preview: Williams Field Black Hawks vs. Higley Knights
Williams Field has gone 7-2 against Higley recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Williams Field Black Hawks are taking a road trip to square off against the Higley Knights at 7:00 p.m. Williams Field is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 28.2 points per game this season.
Williams Field is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Arizona's top teams: ALA - Queen Creek, who was ranked sixth in their home state at the time (Williams Field was ranked 19th). Williams Field fell 22-10 to ALA - Queen Creek on Friday.
The match pitted two dominant backs against one another in Courshawn Hill and Brandon Brown. Brown had a great game and rushed for 105 yards and two touchdowns. Meanwhile, Hill was balling out in the loss, rushing for 92 yards and a touchdown on only eight carries.
Even if they lost, Williams Field's defense still kept up the pressure with three sacks. In that department, Joshua Chappell was the leader with 2.5. Another thorn in ALA - Queen Creek's side was Adrian Dahlene, who made 19 total tackles.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Higley, who bounced back after a loss on the road two weeks ago. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 15-12 victory over Desert Mountain on Friday. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Knights have posted since August 18, 2023.
Higley got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Anthony Palka out in front who threw for 127 yards and two touchdowns. What's more, Palka also racked up 24 rushing yards, the most he's had since back in November of 2023. Higley also got help from Gatling Drake Walton, who showed off his sure hands for 81 receiving yards.
Higley's win was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 6-3. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 46.1 points per game. As for Williams Field, they have traveled a rocky road recently having lost four of their last five matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 4-5 record this season.
The upcoming matchup will be a clash of competing strengths. Williams Field has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 158.6 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Higley has preferred to attack from the air: they average 269.9 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Williams Field and Higley were almost perfectly matched up in their previous meeting back in November of 2023, but Williams Field suffered an agonizing 36-35 loss. Can Williams Field avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
