Football Preview: Alliance Bulldogs vs. Sidney Red Raiders
The Alliance Bulldogs will venture away from home to take on the Sidney Red Raiders at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Alliance has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the match with six straight losses, while Sidney will come in with seven straight wins.
Alliance is headed into the contest out to prove that what happened against Chadron on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Alliance was outmatched by Chadron at home and fell 54-12. While losing is never fun, the Bulldogs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska football rankings (they are ranked 123rd, while the Cardinals are ranked 16th).
Although Alliance took the loss, they still got scores from Jory Matulka and Caysen Robertson.
Meanwhile, everything went Sidney's way against Chase County on Friday as Sidney made off with a 35-12 victory. With the Red Raiders ahead 21-0 at the half, the matchup was all but over already.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Sidney to victory, but perhaps none more so than Owen Gillham, who rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Sidney was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 259 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 150 rushing yards in five consecutive games.
Alliance's defeat dropped their record down to 1-6. As for Sidney, their win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 7-0.
Friday's match might be decided in the on the ground. Alliance has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 183.1 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Sidney struggles in that department as they've been averaging 186.4. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Alliance was taken down by Sidney 56-20 when the teams last played back in October of 2023. Can Alliance avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
