Football Game Preview: Harlan Hawks vs. Warren Warriors

By Team Reports Oct 29, 2024, 12:06am

Football Preview: Harlan Hawks vs. Warren Warriors

Suggested Video

Harlan has gone 4-0 against Warren recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Harlan Hawks will be playing in front of their home fans against the Warren Warriors at 7:30 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Harlan has five straight victories, Warren has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

If Harlan beats Warren with 49 points on Friday, it's going to be the team's new lucky number: they've won their past two games with that exact score. Harlan took their match on Thursday with ease, bagging a 49-7 win over Taft. The Hawks might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won five matchups by 26 points or more this season.

Givori Graham and Payton Matthews were among the main playmakers for Harlan as the former rushed for 127 yards and a touchdown on only ten carries and the latter gained 81 total yards and two touchdowns. That's the most rushing yards Graham has posted since back in October of 2023.

On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Harlan's defense and their four sacks. Taft's QB won't forget Maddox Berantuo anytime soon given he sacked him twice.

Meanwhile, Warren fell victim to Sotomayor and their airtight defense on Saturday. They were dealt a 41-0 defeat at the hands of the WILDCATS. While losing is never fun, the Warriors can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 840th, while the WILDCATS are ranked 299th).

Warren wouldn't let Sotomayor keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force three fumbles. Warren can thank Cal Carpenter and Giovanni Soto-Velasquez for forcing all of them. George Silva was another major factor on D, picking up a sack and making eight total tackles (4.0 for loss).

Harlan pushed their record up to 7-1 with the victory, which was their ninth straight on the road dating back to last season. As for Warren, their loss dropped their record down to 1-7.

Friday's contest might be decided in the trenches. Harlan has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 216.8 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for Warren, though, as they've been averaging only 93.9. How will they fare against such a dominant running game?

Everything came up roses for Harlan against Warren in their previous matchup back in September of 2023, as the squad secured a 45-7 win. Will Harlan repeat their success, or does Warren have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.

Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps