Football Preview: Yucaipa Thunderbirds vs. Palm Desert Aztecs
Yucaipa is 3-0 against Palm Desert since September of 2016, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Thursday. The Yucaipa Thunderbirds will welcome the Palm Desert Aztecs at 7:30 p.m.
Yucaipa is probably headed into the game with a chip on their shoulder considering Palm Springs just ended the team's three-game winning streak on Friday. They lost to the Indians on the road by a 32-14 margin. The loss was the Thunderbirds' first of the season.
Defeat or not, Yucaipa got some senior leadership from Logan Barbour and Eric Moreno. Barbour rushed for 182 yards and a touchdown while picking up 10.1 yards per carry, while Moreno rushed for 87 yards and a touchdown on only six carries. The dominant performance gave Barbour a new career-high in rushing yards.
Even though they lost, Yucaipa was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 305 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 231 rushing yards in four consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Palm Desert). They took down Serrano 43-27 on Friday. The high-flying offensive performance was a huge turnaround for the Aztecs considering their seven-point performance the match before.
Having lost for the first time this season, Yucaipa fell to 3-1. As for Palm Desert, the win got them back to even at 2-2.
Everything came up roses for Yucaipa against Palm Desert in their previous meeting back in September of 2023, as the squad secured a 43-0 victory. Will Yucaipa repeat their success, or does Palm Desert have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
