Football Preview: Santee Falcons vs. Marquez Gladiators
Santee has been on the road for two straight, but on Friday they'll finally head home. They will host the Marquez Gladiators at 7:30 p.m. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Santee is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They simply couldn't be stopped last Friday as they easily beat Hollywood 55-22 on the road. The high-flying offensive performance was a huge turnaround for the Falcons considering their seven-point performance the game before.
Meanwhile, Marquez earned an 18-7 win over Dr. Maya Angelou Community on Friday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Gladiators.
Joshua Ayala continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 150 yards and three touchdowns. His rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his third straight game with at least 131 rushing yards dating back to last season.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Marquez's defense and their four sacks. Elyjah Staples was especially locked on to Dr. Maya Angelou Community's QB and sacked him three times. Horacio Barcos was another major factor on D, picking up a sack and making ten total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Marquez was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 232 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 201 rushing yards in three consecutive matchups.
The victory snapped Santee's losing streak at three games and leaves them with a 2-4 record. As for Marquez, they pushed their record up to 4-2 with the win, which was their third straight on the road.
Santee won a match that couldn't have been any closer in their previous meeting back in October of 2023, slipping by Marquez 28-27. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Ayala, who rushed for 66 yards and three touchdowns. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Santee still be able to contain Ayala? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
