The Southside Mavericks will head out on the road to face off against the Van Buren Pointers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Southside has given up an average of 28.2 points per game this season, but Friday's game will give them a chance to turn things around.
Southside is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Arkansas' top teams: Shiloh Christian, who was ranked fifth at the time (Southside was ranked 20th). The Mavericks were dealt a 52-24 loss at the hands of the Saints on Friday.
Although Southside took the loss, they still got scores from Peyton Zimmerman, Sebastian Luht, and Colton Viengthong.
Meanwhile, Van Buren had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 22.5 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat the Wolves 36-7. The game was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Pointers had established a 23-point advantage.
Van Buren's win came from a few key players Southside will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Hayden Williford, who threw for 284 yards and three TDs while completing 77.3% of his passes, and also punched in one score on the ground. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in passer rating (158.1). Another player making a difference was Austin Riggs, who picked up 149 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Van Buren didn't let much get past them through the air: they limited Lake Hamilton to a completion percentage of just 50%. The Pointers weren't nearly as limited: they posted one of 75%.
Southside's defeat dropped their record down to 4-2. As for Van Buren, their victory bumped their record up to an identical 4-2.
The upcoming contest will be a clash of competing strengths. Southside has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 198.5 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Van Buren has preferred to attack from the air: they average 295 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Southside ended up a good deal behind Van Buren when the teams last played back in October of 2024, losing 42-28. Thankfully for the Mavericks, Cameron Keller (who rushed for 151 yards and five TDs) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
