Football Preview: Horseheads Blue Raiders vs. Vestal Golden Bears
The Horseheads Blue Raiders are taking a road trip to challenge the Vestal Golden Bears at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Horseheads will bounce into Friday's contest after beating Corning-Painted Post, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. Horseheads put the hurt on Corning-Painted Post with a sharp 35-14 win on Friday. Given the Blue Raiders' advantage in MaxPreps' New York football rankings (they are ranked 46th, while the Hawks are ranked 166th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Vestal, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Friday. They blew past Binghamton 49-12 at home on Friday.
Vestal's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Dan Castro led the charge by rushing for 71 yards and a touchdown on only six carries. Josh Kweller was another key passer, throwing for 128 yards and two touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Vestal was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 244 rushing yards. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 72.3 rushing yards per game earlier this season, but in their last three matchups they've averaged 244.3.
The victory made it two in a row for Horseheads and bumps their season record up to 4-2. As for Vestal, the win got them back to even at 3-3.
Horseheads might still be hurting after the 40-14 defeat they got from Vestal when the teams last played back in November of 2023. Thankfully for Horseheads, Liam Nealy (who rushed for 160 yards and three touchdowns, and also picked up 49 receiving yards) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
