Football Preview: Rio Rico Hawks vs. Florence Gophers
The Rio Rico Hawks are taking a road trip to take on the Florence Gophers at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Last Friday, Rio Rico strolled past Nogales with points to spare, taking the game 21-7.
Meanwhile, Florence put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They blew past San Tan Foothills 42-13 at home. That looming 42-13 mark stands out as the most commanding margin for the Gophers yet this season.
Florence wouldn't let San Tan Foothills keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Florence can thank Michon Deal and Dayron Neal for forcing both of them. Deal is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made five or more in the last three games he's played dating back to last season.
Rio Rico now has a winning record of 2-1. As for Florence, they pushed their record up to 4-0 with that victory, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season.
Rio Rico took a serious blow against Florence when the teams last played back in September of 2023, falling 35-8. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Florence's Malik Smith, who rushed for 121 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.6 yards per carry. Now that Rio Rico knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
