Football Game Preview: Superior Panthers vs. San Manuel Miners

The Superior Panthers will challenge the San Manuel Miners at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.

Superior is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Arizona's top teams: St. David, who was ranked third at the time (Superior was ranked eighth). The Panthers were outmatched by the Tigers and fell 46-6. The Panthers were red-hot offensively heading into the game (they scored no less than 31 points in the four matchups prior), but the Tigers' defense proved too tough.

Meanwhile, San Manuel came into Thursday's contest having lost four straight, but that streak is now in the rearview. They put the hurt on Cicero Prep Academy with a sharp 42-16 win on Thursday. The high-flying offensive performance was a huge turnaround for the Miners considering their eight-point performance the game before.

On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to San Manuel's defense and their four sacks. In fact, those sacks all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Gabriel Valenzuela.

San Manuel's victory was their first in the region, bumping their region record up to 1-2 and their overall record up to 2-4. As for Superior, the loss snapped their winning streak at four games and leaves them with a 4-2 record.

Superior took a serious blow against San Manuel when the teams last played back in October of 2022, falling 50-20. Thankfully for the Panthers, Dominic Rodriguez (who rushed for 110 yards and one touchdown, and also picked up 41 receiving yards) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.