Football Game Preview: Waco Lions vs. Rudder Rangers

Waco is on a seven-game streak of home losses dating back to last season, and Rudder a six-game streak of away losses also dating back to last season. However, someone's due for a change in luck on Friday. The Waco Lions will welcome the Rudder Rangers at 7:00 p.m. Having both just faced considerable losses, both teams are looking to turn things around.

It was a proper cat-fight when Waco duked it out with Belton on Thursday. The Lions lost 42-18 to the Tigers. While losing is never fun, the Lions can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 805th, while the Tigers are ranked 283rd).

Despite the defeat, Waco had strong showings from LV'TAMARION MARSHALL, who rushed for 96 yards on only five carries, and ZAY'DRIAN JOHNSON, who picked up 68 receiving yards and one score.

Meanwhile, Rudder played a tough contest on Friday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They had to suffer through a 59-13 loss at the hands of Ellison. The Rangers were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 39-7.

Rudder's loss dropped their record down to 1-8. As for Waco, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-9.

Waco might still be hurting after the 45-19 loss they got from Rudder in their previous matchup back in November of 2024. Thankfully for the Lions, Javyn Jessie (who threw for 136 yards and three touchdowns while completing 73.3% of his passes, and also punched in one TD on the ground) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.