Football Preview: Albany Warriors vs. Stanberry Bulldogs
The Albany Warriors will face off against the Stanberry Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Albany has six straight wins, Stanberry has five straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Albany is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Missouri's top teams: Princeton, who was ranked 25th in their home state at the time (Albany was ranked sixth). Albany blew past Princeton 96-46 on the road on Friday. The Warriors' offense stepped up their game for this one, as that was the most points they've scored all season.
Kyle Emerson went supernova for Albany, picking up 124 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Albany's defensive line and their three sacks. Elliot Mercer was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up twohimself. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in rushing yards.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Albany was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 451 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 159 rushing yards in six consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Stanberry fell victim to Worth County/Northeast Nodaway and their airtight defense on Friday. They were dealt a 58-0 loss at the hands of the Tigers. Having soared to a lofty 42 points in the game before, the Bulldogs' shutout was a dramatic turnaround.
Albany's victory was their eighth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 6-0. As for Stanberry, their defeat dropped their record down to 1-5.
Albany came out on top in a nail-biter against Stanberry when the teams last played back in October of 2023, sneaking past 34-32. Does Albany have another victory up their sleeve, or will Stanberry turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
