Football Preview: Rockwall-Heath Hawks vs. Royse City Bulldogs
The Rockwall-Heath Hawks will head out to square off against the Royse City Bulldogs at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
It was a Battle of the Birds when Rockwall-Heath faced off against North Forney on Friday. Rockwall-Heath fell 49-42 to North Forney. The Hawks have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Rockwall-Heath's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Prosper Neal, who threw for 142 yards and three touchdowns, and Carter Zahm, who gained 127 total yards and two touchdowns. Neal's passing game has become a key predictor of Rockwall-Heath's success: the team is 2-1 when his passer rating is 110 or higher, but only 0-3 otherwise. Ashton Bradford also helped with two touchdowns in total.
Meanwhile, Royse City was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their third straight defeat. They took a 38-31 hit to the loss column at the hands of Tyler Legacy. While losing is never fun, the Bulldogs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 408th, while the Raiders are ranked 184th).
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Daniel Jenkins, who rushed for 160 yards and a touchdown. He showed off some serious burst, cutting through the defense on one rush that went for 55 yards. Jamion Richardson was another key player, throwing for 177 yards and three touchdowns.
Royse City didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of John Abrama and Cordarian Powell. Powell also set a new season high mark in total tackles with six. Another thorn in Tyler Legacy's side was Billy Jones, who made 11 total tackles (4.0 for loss) and defended a pass.
Even though they lost, Royse City was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 274 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 177 rushing yards in five consecutive contests.
Rockwall-Heath's loss dropped their record down to 2-4. As for Royse City, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-5.
Everything came up roses for Rockwall-Heath against Royse City in their previous matchup back in October of 2023, as the team secured a 38-3 win. In that match, Rockwall-Heath amassed a halftime lead of 35-3, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
