Football Preview: Ryan Raiders vs. Aledo Bearcats
Ryan has won ten straight games at home (dating back to last season), while Aledo has won ten straight on the road, but those streaks won't matter much on Saturday. The Ryan Raiders will host the Aledo Bearcats at 2:00 p.m. Ryan is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 34.4 points per game this season.
Ryan is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They walked away with a 48-35 win over Richland. That's two games straight that the Raiders have won by exactly 13 points.
Ryan's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Quin Henigan, who threw for 173 yards and two touchdowns while completing 75% of his passes. The dominant performance also gave Henigan a new career-high in rushing yards (ten). Tre'Vaughn Reynolds was in the mix as well, providing Ryan with two touchdowns.
Ryan didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Byran Simmons and Jaxson Dozier. Another thorn in Richland's side was Kharom Freeman-Wade, who picked up a sack, made eight total tackles, and defended a pass.
Meanwhile, Aledo humbled Tascosa with a 62-7 victory. Given the Bearcats' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 25th, while the Rebels are ranked 315th), the result on Friday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Aledo can attribute much of their success to Kaden Winkfield, who rushed for 142 yards and three touchdowns on only 11 carries, and Gavin Beard, who threw for 276 yards and four touchdowns on perfect 15-for-15 passing. Beard has been hot recently, having posted three or more passing touchdowns the last three times he's played. Kaydon Finley did his part for the team as well, scoring a TD off of 123 receiving yards.
Aledo was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 246 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 171 rushing yards in 12 consecutive matches.
Ryan's record is now 12-1. As for Aledo, their record now sits at an identical 12-1.
Saturday's contest will pit two of the most dominant backs against one another: Nehemiah Warmate and Raycine Guillory Jr. Warmate just won't slow down this season and has averaged 83.3 rushing yards per game. Guillory Jr has been a dominant force too and has averaged 99.9 rushing yards per game.
Ryan lost to Aledo at home by a decisive 42-27 margin in their previous matchup back in October. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Guillory Jr, who rushed for 165 yards and two touchdowns, and also picked up 33 receiving yards and a touchdown. Now that Ryan 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
