Football Preview: Eastlake Falcons vs. Franklin Cougars
Eastlake hasn't had much luck against Franklin recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Eastlake Falcons will be playing at home against the Franklin Cougars at 7:30 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Franklin is hoping to do what Socorro couldn't last Friday: put an end to Eastlake's winning streak, which now stands at three games. Eastlake simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Socorro 42-7 on the road. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 21-0.
Luke Lomeli was his usual excellent self, throwing for 320 yards and four touchdowns while completing 78.9% of his passes. The team also got some help courtesy of Steven Galindo, who rushed for 88 yards and a touchdown on only nine carries.
Meanwhile, everything went Franklin's way against Socorro on Friday as Franklin made off with a 35-14 win. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 428th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 967th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Ernie Powers continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 191 yards and two touchdowns. His rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his fifth straight game with at least 138 rushing yards dating back to last season. Lucas Garza was another key player, rushing for 75 yards and two touchdowns.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Franklin was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 340 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 184 rushing yards in 14 consecutive matches dating back to last season.
Eastlake now has a winning record of 4-3. As for Franklin, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season.
Eastlake was dealt a bruising 42-15 loss at the hands of Franklin when the teams last played back in October of 2023. Thankfully for Eastlake, Shay Smith (who rushed for 220 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 9.6 yards per carry, and also threw for 92 yards and two touchdowns) 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
