Football Preview: Christoval Cougars vs. Ozona Lions
The Christoval Cougars will be playing at home against the Ozona Lions at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Last Friday, Christoval was able to grind out a solid win over Sonora, taking the game 20-13.
Christoval got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Manuel Riojas out in front who rushed for 134 yards and a touchdown. Riojas also put in work on the defensive side of the ball, picking up a sack and making four total tackles. Kelton Gibbs also helped out with an impressive 84 receiving yards.
Another reason for the win was Christoval's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for six sacks. Leading the way was Ethan Busch with two.
Meanwhile, Ozona waltzed into their match on Friday with two straight wins... but they left with three. They blew past the Buffaloes 50-28. The result was nothing new for the Lions, who have now won four games by 22 points or more so far this season.
Christian Villarreal continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 168 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 10.5 yards per carry. The team also got some help courtesy of Hudson Fowler, who threw for 274 yards and two touchdowns while completing 72.7% of his passes.
Ozona was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 332 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 193 rushing yards in six consecutive contests.
Ozona is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 7-2 record this season. As for Christoval, their win bumped their record up to 3-6.
Christoval suffered a grim 40-18 defeat to Ozona when the teams last played back in October of 2023. Thankfully for Christoval, Dusty Smith (who picked up 140 receiving yards and two touchdowns, and also rushed for 92 yards and a touchdown) 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
