Football Preview: Gilbert Tigers vs. Highland Hawks
Gilbert is on a four-game streak of home wins, while Highland is on a three-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Gilbert Tigers will welcome the Highland Hawks at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams have allowed few points on average, (Gilbert: 9.2, Highland: 8) so any points scored will be well earned.
Last Tuesday, Gilbert didn't have too much trouble with Higley as they won 29-12.
A big part of Gilbert's victory came down to the chemistry between Lilah Barton and her top target Jalyssa Guerrero. Barton threw for 240 yards and three touchdowns while Guerrero gained 78 total yards and two touchdowns. What's more, Guerrero also racked up 47 rushing yards, the most she's had since back in September.
Gilbert didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Brylee Gaylord and Guerrero.
Meanwhile, Highland faced Desert Ridge in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Tuesday. Highland came out on top against Desert Ridge by a score of 24-14.
Alexis Eley continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, throwing for 219 yards and two touchdowns while completing 78% of her passes, and also rushing for 75 yards and a touchdown.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Highland's defense and their three sacks. In that department, Kylie Riggs was the leader with two. She is on a roll when it comes to sacks, as she's now posted two or more in the last four games she's played.
Gilbert is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine matches, which provided a nice bump to their 9-3 record this season. Those victories were due in large part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 7.3 points per game. As for Highland, their win bumped their record up to 11-3.
Thursday's game will pit two of the most dominant signal callers against one another: Barton and Eley. Barton just won't slow down this season and has thrown 31 touchdowns while averaging 196.2 passing yards per game. Eley has been a dominant force too and has thrown 26 touchdowns while averaging 215.5 passing yards per game.
Gilbert took a serious blow against Highland in their previous meeting back in September of 2023, falling 35-7. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Highland's Emilee Searle, who picked up 103 receiving yards and four touchdowns. Now that Gilbert knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
