Preview: Kimball Jaguars vs. Patterson Tigers
The Kimball Jaguars will head out on the road to face off against the Patterson Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Two teams were on the hunt for playoff glory, but only Kimball walked away with it. They managed a 25-21 win over Nevada Union on Friday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Kimball.
Kimball can attribute much of their success to Angelo Valencia, who picked up 122 receiving yards and two touchdowns, and Josiah Wilson, who threw for 243 yards and three touchdowns. Valencia was no stranger to the big play, lighting up the secondary with a catch that went for 65 yards.
Meanwhile, Patterson entered their tilt with Buhach Colony with three consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with four. Patterson breezed by Buhach Colony on the road to the tune of 63-2. Considering Patterson has won seven matches by more than 24 points this season, two weeks ago's blowout was nothing new.
Jeremiah Lugo and Max Medina were among the main playmakers for Patterson as the former gained 182 total yards and four touchdowns and the latter threw for 384 yards and six touchdowns while completing 83.3% of his passes. Lugo has been hot recently, having posted 100 or more rushing yards the last five times he's played. Noah Cozart did his part for the team as well, scoring a TD off of 145 receiving yards.
Kimball has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 6-5 record this season. As for Patterson, they pushed their record up to 9-1 with that victory, which was their tenth straight on the road dating back to last season.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's match: Kimball has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 149.5 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Patterson struggles in that department as they've been even better at 219.7 per game. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches. Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more football content.
Kimball didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Patterson in their previous meeting back in April of 2021, but they still walked away with a 62-56 victory. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Patterson's Jordan Imada, who rushed for 416 yards and five touchdowns while picking up 10.9 yards per carry. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be that much easier for Kimball to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
