Football Preview: Thunderbird Titans vs. Glendale Cardinals
The Thunderbird Titans will square off against the Glendale Cardinals at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Thunderbird will be looking to keep their five-game home win streak dating back to last season alive.
Last Friday, Thunderbird blew past Apollo, posting a 41-7 victory on the road. Fans of the Titans have seen this all before: every one of the games they've played this season has ended in a blowout of 20+ point.
Elijah Little had an outrageously good game as he rushed for 275 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 9.8 yards per carry. His longest rush was for an incredible 73 yards. Owen Stclair was another key back, rushing for 71 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Thunderbird was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 391 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 165 rushing yards in eight consecutive matches dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, Glendale was beaten by Buckeye 50-21 on Friday. The Cardinals haven't had much luck with the Hawks recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Michael Anguiano, who threw for 343 yards and two touchdowns while completing 73.3% of his passes, and also punched in a rushing score. Dominic Owens was Anguiano's top target, picking up 130 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Thunderbird's win bumped their record up to 3-0. As for Glendale, they now have a losing record at 1-2.
The upcoming matchup will be a clash of competing strengths. Thunderbird has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 263.7 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Glendale has preferred to attack from the air: they average 267.7 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Thursday? There's only one way to find out.
Thunderbird strolled past Glendale in their previous matchup back in September of 2023 by a score of 40-22. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Glendale's Marqueese Murphy, who rushed for 72 yards and two touchdowns, and also picked up 31 receiving yards and a touchdown. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Thunderbird still be able to contain Murphy? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
