Football Preview: Mission Veterans Memorial Patriots vs. Pioneer Diamondbacks
Mission Veterans Memorial and Pioneer are an even 4-4 against one another since October of 2014, but not for long. The Mission Veterans Memorial Patriots will face off against the Pioneer Diamondbacks at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.
Mission Veterans Memorial will head into Friday's game on the come-up: they were handed a three-point defeat in their last contest, but they sure didn't let that happen against Roma on Friday. Mission Veterans Memorial was the clear victor by a 35-14 margin over Roma. The Patriots' offense stepped up their game for this one, as that was the most points they've scored all season.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Mission Veterans Memorial to victory, but perhaps none more so than Roman Reyna, who threw for 269 yards and four touchdowns. A healthy portion of that aerial production (123 yards to be exact) went to Jordan Rodriguez, who also brought in a receiving touchdown.
Meanwhile, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Pioneer beat Sharyland 33-27 on Friday.
William Goodloe was his usual excellent self, rushing for 202 yards and a touchdown while picking up 12.6 yards per carry, and also throwing for 154 yards and three touchdowns while completing 81.3% of his passes. He really tore up the turf during one magnificent 95-yard run. Matthew Maldonado was another key player, picking up 77 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Pioneer was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 277 rushing yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Sharyland only rushed for 30.
Pioneer's defense made their presence known, laying out Calvin Harris. seven times. The heavy lifting was done by Kaleb Hernandez and Irving Garcia, who racked up four sacks between them. Jaykob Mendez was another major factor on D, picking up a sack and making eight total tackles (3.0 for loss).
Mission Veterans Memorial's win ended a five-game drought on the road and puts them at 2-7. As for Pioneer, their record is now 6-3.
Mission Veterans Memorial suffered a grim 56-36 defeat to Pioneer in their previous matchup back in October of 2023. Thankfully for Mission Veterans Memorial, Julian Valdez (who threw for 261 yards and four touchdowns while completing 84.6% of his passes, and also rushed for 89 yards and a touchdown) 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
