Football Preview: Buena Colts vs. Ironwood Ridge Nighthawks
The Buena Colts will look to take advantage of their home-field for the first time this season as they take on the Ironwood Ridge Nighthawks at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Buena is coming home in high spirits after they had to open their season on the road against Fairfax. Buena really took it to Fairfax for the full four quarters, racking up a 68-19 victory on the road. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 42-7.
Nash Moore was a one-man wrecking crew for Buena as he threw for 231 yards and five touchdowns while completing 87.5% of his passes. Andres Bonilla helped Moore out on the ground, rushing for 109 yards and two touchdowns on only ten carries.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Buena was moving up and down the field and finished the game with 503 total yards. That's the most total yards they've posted since back in September of 2023.
Buena's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Tariq Howard and Ricardo Brooks.
Meanwhile, Ironwood Ridge gave their fans exactly what they wanted out of a home opener on Thursday. They came out on top against Seton Catholic by a score of 28-20. The Nighthawks pushed the score to 28-7 by the end of the third, a deficit the Sentinels cut but never quite recovered from.
A big part of the win came down to the chemistry between Jaiden Martinez and his top target Matthew Kroner. Martinez threw for 197 yards and three touchdowns while Kroner picked up 139 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Kroner got the majority of those yards when he pulled down a pass and and took off for a gain of77 yards.
Ironwood Ridge wouldn't let Seton Catholic keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Ironwood Ridge can thank David Baba and Samuel Kleving for forcing both of them. Kleving's also deserves a shoutout for his performance on D, picking up a sack, forcing a fumble, and making five total tackles (2.0 for loss) in addition to snagging an interception.
Buena strolled past Ironwood Ridge in their previous meeting back in September of 2023 by a score of 35-20. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Ironwood Ridge's Dominic Norris, who rushed for 106 yards and two touchdowns on only 13 carries, and also threw for 174 yards and a touchdown. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be easier for Buena to walk away with another win? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
