Preview: Mountain Ridge Mountain Lions vs. O'Connor Eagles
Mountain Ridge is 1-8 against O'Connor since October of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Mountain Ridge Mountain Lions will head out on the road to face off against the O'Connor Eagles at 7:00 p.m. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in Arizona (Mountain Ridge is ranked 42nd, while O'Connor is ranked 21st).
Mountain Ridge had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 22.5 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. They took their match on the road with ease, bagging a 42-12 victory over Goldwater.
Trent Wilkins was a one-man wrecking crew for Mountain Ridge as he threw for 153 yards and five touchdowns on only 13 passes, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground. Ryland Sands also deserves a shout-out for his two touchdowns.
The team's defense also helped out by holding Goldwater to a paltry 225 yards. A big part of that defensive dominance came down to Mountain Ridge's ability to keep the quarterback under pressure: the team laid him out six times before it was all said and done. Leading the way was Tyler Slipek and his two sacks.
Meanwhile, you can't lose the contest if you win every quarter, and that was precisely O'Connor's strategy against Valley Vista on Friday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that O'Connor blew Valley Vista out of the water with a 49-6 final score. Considering O'Connor has won four matches by more than 19 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Nathan Bayus had a dynamite game for O'Connor, rushing for 131 yards and two touchdowns on only seven carries, while also picking up 77 receiving yards. Mason Steele was another key contributor, rushing for 76 yards and two touchdowns.
Their wins bumped Mountain Ridge to 3-6 and O'Connor to 4-5.
Mountain Ridge ended up a good deal behind O'Connor in their previous meeting back in November of 2022, losing 38-21. Can Mountain Ridge avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
