The Legacy Lightning will take on the Mullen Mustangs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
For whatever reason, it's the away team that's had the advantage when Legacy and Fossil Ridge meet (three straight games heading into this one) and that held true again on Friday. The Lightning came out on top against the SaberCats by a score of 24-14.
A big part of Legacy's win came down to the chemistry between Andrew Gardner and his top target Peyton Studebaker. Gardner threw for 202 yards and one touchdown while Studebaker picked up 118 receiving yards and one score. Studebaker really caught the secondary sleeping when he pulled down a catch that went for 88 yards.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Mullen). Everything went their way against Vista PEAK Prep on Friday as they made off with a 40-14 victory. With the Mustangs ahead 21-0 at the half, the game was all but over already.
Legacy better keep an eye on Dante Dupuch. He was instrumental in Mullen's win, rushing for 141 yards and three TDs on only 15 carries. They are 2-1 when Dupuch posts two or more rushing touchdowns, but 0-3 otherwise. Another big playmaker for Mullen was Kevin Lewis, who returned a punt for a touchdown.
Mullen didn't let much get past them through the air: they limited Vista PEAK Prep to a completion percentage of just 43.5%. That dominant aerial defense primarily came from four players: Kingston Salazar-Mangrum, Mason Bonner, Koa Dietrich, and Lewis, who each logged one passes deflected. Mullen wasn't nearly as limited: they posted one of 57.9%.
The win got Legacy back to even at 3-3. As for Mullen, with the victory, they broke their three-game losing streak and moved their record to 2-4.
Legacy and Mullen were neck-and-neck in their previous matchup back in October of 2024, but Legacy came up empty-handed after a 28-27 loss. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Dietrich, who threw for 200 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and also punched in one score on the ground. Now that the Lightning know the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
