Football Game Preview: St. Mary's Knights vs. Gila Ridge Hawks

The St. Mary's Knights will take on the Gila Ridge Hawks at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with St. Mary's sitting on four straight wins and Gila Ridge on three.

St. Mary's is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They blew past Mesquite 49-28 last Thursday. The matchup was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 28-7.

St. Mary's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Anthony Cannon, who picked up 200 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Cannon's longest reception was for an incredible 77 yards. The team also got some help courtesy of Luke Horn, who threw for 318 yards and four TDs.

St. Mary's didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Gus Sullivan and Jason Espinoza.

Meanwhile, Gila Ridge earned a 31-24 victory over Northwest Christian on Friday.

Gila Ridge's win came from a few key players St. Mary's will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Isaac Soliz, who threw for 253 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 12.0 yards per attempt. He has been hot recently, having posted three or more passing touchdowns the last three times he's played. Prentes Boxx lll helped Soliz out on the ground, rushing for 130 yards and one score.

Gila Ridge's win bumped their record up to 3-1. As for St. Mary's, their victory bumped their record up to 4-0.

Everything came up roses for St. Mary's against Gila Ridge in their previous matchup back in October of 2022, as the team secured a 28-0 win. Will the Knights repeat their success, or do the Hawks have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.