Football Preview: Rice Consolidated Raiders vs. Van Vleck Leopards
Two dominant backs in Dyren Johnson and Corey Austin are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Rice Consolidated Raiders will head out on the road to take on the Van Vleck Leopards at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Given that both suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this game.
Rice Consolidated will head out to face Van Vleck after giving up their first home loss of the season on Friday. Rice Consolidated took a hard 49-33 fall against Tidehaven. The defeat continues a trend for the Raiders in their matchups with the Tigers: they've now lost four in a row.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Kor'Dae Johnson, who threw for 178 yards and two touchdowns, and also rushed for 45 yards. That's the most rushing yards he has posted since back in September. Isaiah Castillo got in on the action too, returning a kick for a touchdown.
Meanwhile, Van Vleck came up short against Tidehaven last Friday and fell 21-14. The Leopards have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Despite the loss, Van Vleck got top-tier performance from Austin, who rushed for 233 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 9.3 yards per carry. Austin showed off some serious burst, cutting through the defense on one rush that went for 61 yards.
Even though they lost, Van Vleck was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 293 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 227 rushing yards in nine consecutive matches dating back to last season.
Rice Consolidated's defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 6-3. As for Van Vleck, their loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 3-5.
Friday's matchup might be decided in the on the ground. Rice Consolidated has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 163.9 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Van Vleck struggles in that department as they've been averaging 321.6. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Rice Consolidated came up short against Van Vleck in their previous meeting back in October of 2023, falling 42-35. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Austin, who rushed for 201 yards and two touchdowns on only 14 carries, and also picked up 30 receiving yards. Now that Rice Consolidated knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
