Football Preview: El Campo Ricebirds vs. Rudder Rangers
The El Campo Ricebirds are headed away from home for the first time to face off against the Rudder Rangers at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Both might be coming in a bit winded given how much these teams ran up and down the field in their prior games.
El Campo is headed out to face Rudder after opening their season at home and giving their fans just what they were looking for. El Campo really took it to Wharton for the full four quarters, racking up a 52-6 victory at home. The match was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Ricebirds had established a 25 point advantage.
El Campo found their leader in underclassman Vladimir Garcia, who rushed for 64 yards and two touchdowns on only seven carries.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, El Campo was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 241 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 179 rushing yards in seven consecutive matchups dating back to last season.
El Campo's defense made their presence known, laying out the QB three times. Leading the way was Riley Riha and his two sacks. He also put in work on the defensive side of the ball, picking up two sacks and making three total tackles.
Meanwhile, Rudder had to kick off their season on the road on Friday, but they showed no ill effects. They walked away with a 43-31 win over West Fork. Given the Rangers' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 461st, while the Gators are ranked 1180th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Javyn Jessie was nothing short of spectacular: he threw for 331 yards and four touchdowns while completing 82.8% of his passes, and also rushed for 40 yards and a touchdown.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
