Football Game Preview: Vernon Lions vs. Denver City Mustangs + How To Watch

The Vernon Lions are taking a road trip to face off against the Denver City Mustangs at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Vernon is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They blew past Clyde, posting a 42-14 victory. The high-flying offensive performance was a huge turnaround for the Lions considering their three-point performance the game before.

Tru Gipson

Rushing Yards

11/14/25 vs Clyde	47
11/07/25 @ Peaster	3
10/03/25 @ Ponder	7
09/26/25 vs Paradise	12
09/18/25 @ Richland	36
+ 2 more games

Vernon can attribute much of their success to Tru Gipson, who picked up 41 receiving yards and one score, and also rushed for 47 yards. That's the most rushing yards Gipson has posted since back in August.

Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something Vernon proved: they limited Clyde to a paltry 2.6 yards per carry. The team can thank Bowie Eakin for the heroic effort on defense: he. Vernon didn't have any issues in that department, having averaged 10.1.

Vernon's defense also made the game a nightmare for Devan Wright, racking up nine sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Malakhi Propes Scott and Tyce Payne, who racked up four sacks between them. Propes Scott is on a roll when it comes to sacks, as he's now posted at least one in each of the last three games he's played.

Meanwhile, while Denver City put up plenty of points on Friday, the same can't be said for River Road. The Mustangs breezed past the Wildcats to the tune of 49-0. The contest marked the Mustangs' most dominant win of the season.

Vernon better keep an eye on Erik Sinaloa. He was instrumental in Denver City's win, picking up 117 receiving yards and one TD.

Denver City didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Jacob Acosta and Zackary DeLeon.

Denver City has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matchups. That's provided a massive bump to their 6-5 record this season. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to yards per carry: they averaged an imposing 5.63 yards per carry in those games compared to only 3.54 in the others. As for Vernon, their record is now 9-2.