Football Preview: Queen Creek Bulldogs vs. Red Mountain Mountain Lions
Queen Creek is on a four-game streak of home wins, while Red Mountain is on a three-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Queen Creek Bulldogs will host the Red Mountain Mountain Lions at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Queen Creek's defense has only allowed 13.4 points per game this season, so Red Mountain's offense will have their work cut out for them.
Queen Creek is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Arizona's top teams: Centennial, who was ranked 20th in their home state at the time (Queen Creek was ranked 11th). Queen Creek came out on top against Centennial by a score of 31-21 on Friday.
Tait Reynolds was his usual excellent self, rushing for 105 yards and a touchdown on only six carries, while also throwing for 150 yards and two touchdowns. He really tore up the turf during one magnificent 71-yard run. Speaking of playmakers, who could forget Crew Leavitt, who went all the way with a kickoff return for a touchdown.
Queen Creek didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Myles Sargent and Darien Kattner. Kattner is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made five or more in the last seven games he's played dating back to last season. Jayshon Liles was another major factor on D, making 11 total tackles (2.0 for loss) and defending a pass.
Queen Creek was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 228 rushing yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Centennial only rushed for 96.
Meanwhile, it was close, but on Friday Red Mountain sidestepped ALA - Queen Creek for a 16-14 victory. The 16-point effort marked the Mountain Lions' lowest-scoring game of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
Simon Lopez continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 85 yards and a touchdown on only six carries, while also throwing for 235 yards and a touchdown.
Queen Creek's win bumped their record up to 6-1. As for Red Mountain, their victory bumped their record up to 7-0.
Friday's match will pit two of the most dominant signal callers against one another: Reynolds and Lopez. Reynolds has put up some stellar numbers this year, and currently owns excellent season averages 178.7 passing yards and has 15 passing touchdowns on the season. For his part, Lopez has averaged 194 passing yards and has 16 passing touchdowns on the season.
Everything went Queen Creek's way against Red Mountain when the teams last played back in October of 2023, as Queen Creek made off with a 45-21 win. Does Queen Creek have another victory up their sleeve, or will Red Mountain turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
