Football Game Preview: Shadow Mountain Matadors vs. Florence Gophers + How To Watch

The Shadow Mountain Matadors will take on the Florence Gophers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.

Shadow Mountain lost 40-14 to Dysart on Friday. The Matadors haven't had much luck with the Demons recently, as the team has come up short the last four times they've met.

Jaiden Hill

Interceptions

10/03/25 @ Dysart	1
09/19/25 vs Kingman	1
09/12/25 vs San Tan Foothills	1

Shadow Mountain didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Noah Strickland and Jaiden Hill. Shadow Mountain is 2-1 when Hill posts one or more interceptions, but 1-3 otherwise.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Florence, who bounced back after a loss on the road back in September. Everything went their way against Coolidge last Friday as they made off with a 27-2 win. The victory continues a trend for the Gophers in their matchups with the Bears: they've now won four in a row.

Florence's win came from a few key players Shadow Mountain will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Dayron Neal, who rushed for 187 yards and one TD on only ten carries. Those 187 rushing yards gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Brody Ramirez, who rushed for 57 yards and a pair of scores on only six carries.

Florence was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 452 rushing yards. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 72 rushing yards per game earlier this season, but in their last five contests they've averaged 208.

Florence's win was their first in the region, bumping their region record up to 1-2 and their overall record up to 2-4. As for Shadow Mountain, they now have a losing record of 3-4.