Football Preview: Azle Hornets vs. Fossil Ridge Panthers
The Azle Hornets will challenge the Fossil Ridge Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Azle's favor is that they have posted at least 31 points every time they've taken the field this season.
Last Friday, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Azle beat Birdville 48-43.
It was another big night for Hagen Hughes, who rushed for 251 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 13.9 yards per carry. His longest rush was for an incredible 75 yards. Another player making a difference was Derrek Vowell, who threw for 290 yards and a touchdown while completing 76.5% of his passes.
Meanwhile, a victory for Fossil Ridge just wasn't in the cards on Friday as the squad wasn't able to take the lead at any point. They had to suffer through a 57-14 loss at the hands of Richland. While losing is never fun, the Panthers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 430th, while the Royals are ranked 48th).
Although Fossil Ridge took the loss, they still got scores from Jayden Cowan and Draylon Galloway Jr..
Azle's win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 5-0. As for Fossil Ridge, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 1-5.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's matchup: Azle has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 518 total yards per game. It's a different story for Fossil Ridge, though, as they've been averaging only 240. Will Azle be able to march up the field at their leisure again, or will Fossil Ridge flip the script?
Azle and Fossil Ridge were almost perfectly matched up in their previous matchup back in August of 2021, but Azle suffered an agonizing 42-41 defeat. Thankfully for Azle, Landen Chambers (who rushed for 199 yards and four touchdowns) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
