Football Preview: Blue Ridge Yellow Jackets vs. Mingus Marauders
The Blue Ridge Yellow Jackets will venture away from home to face off against the Mingus Marauders at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Blue Ridge has three straight wins, Mingus has six straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Blue Ridge's defense heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Thursday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Window Rock 52-0 at home. Given the Yellow Jackets' advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona football rankings (they are ranked 86th, while the Fighting Scouts are ranked 215th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Blue Ridge's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Karlo Harris, who rushed for 87 yards and three touchdowns. Hunter Krause was another key back, rushing for 130 yards.
Krause wasn't the only one working in the rushing yards department: Blue Ridge was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 257 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in September of 2023.
Blue Ridge'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 Samuel James and Carter McGowen. James also deserves a shoutout for his performance on D, making two total tackles and defending a pass in addition to snagging an interception which he returned one-yard for a touchdown.
Meanwhile, Mingus ended up a good deal behind Estrella Foothills on Friday and lost 42-23. The Marauders were down 35-7 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.
Although Mingus took the loss, they still got scores from Demario Tinsley, Carson Miller, and Remington Stokes.
Blue Ridge's record now sits at 3-0. As for Mingus, their loss dropped their record down to 0-2.
Blue Ridge and Mingus were almost perfectly matched up in their previous matchup back in September of 2023, but Blue Ridge suffered an agonizing 28-27 defeat. Thankfully for Blue Ridge, Michael Grijalva (who rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown on only 13 carries, and also picked up 69 receiving yards and a touchdown) 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.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
