Football Preview: Cypress Centurions vs. El Modena Vanguards
The Cypress Centurions will venture away from home to challenge the El Modena Vanguards at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Cypress is coming into the game on a five-game losing streak.
Last Friday, Cypress lost to Trabuco Hills on the road by a 42-28 margin. While losing is never fun, the Centurions can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 313th, while the Mustangs are ranked 129th).
Despite the defeat, Cypress got top-tier performance from Bryson Busbee, who rushed for 193 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 9.2 yards per carry. Those 193 rushing yards gave Busbee a new career-high.
Even though they lost, Cypress was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 262 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Cypress didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. In fact, those interceptions all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Matthew Baldonado.
Despite a strong season so far, El Modena has seen their luck take a bit of a downturn recently. They fell 28-21 to Capistrano Valley on Friday. The matchup marked the Vanguards' lowest-scoring match so far this season.
The match pitted two dominant signal callers against one another in Xzavior Guess and Tommy Acosta. Acosta had a great game and threw for 229 yards and two touchdowns. Meanwhile, Guess was balling out in the loss, rushing for 170 yards and a touchdown while picking up 9.4 yards per carry, and also throwing for 147 yards and two touchdowns while completing 76.9% of his passes.
Even if they lost, El Modena's defense still kept up the pressure with three sacks. In that department, Andrew Alvarez was the leader with two.
Cypress' loss dropped their record down to 2-7. As for El Modena, their defeat ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 7-2.
Cypress strolled past El Modena in their previous meeting back in August of 2023 by a score of 31-14. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Guess, who rushed for 99 yards and a touchdown on only nine carries, and also threw for 186 yards and a touchdown. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Cypress still be able to contain Guess? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
