Football Preview: Chandler Wolves vs. Basha Bears
The Chandler Wolves will challenge the Basha Bears at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.
Chandler is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Arizona's top teams: Casteel, who was ranked 21st in their home state at the time (Chandler was ranked 12th). Chandler blew past Casteel 42-21 on Friday. The Wolves might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four contests by 21 points or more this season.
Tristan Halsana was his usual excellent self, rushing for 101 yards and three touchdowns, while also catching a touchdown. Another player making a difference was Will Mencl, who threw for 221 yards and three touchdowns while completing 72.7% of his passes.
Meanwhile, Basha won against Brophy College Prep on October 4th with 35 points and they decided to stick to that point total again last Friday. Basha enjoyed a cozy 35-20 victory over Hamilton. Winning may never get old, but the Bears sure are getting used to it with their third in a row.
The match pitted two dominant signal callers against one another in Broderick Vehrs and Rich Lucero Jr.. Vehrs had a great game and threw for 277 yards and two touchdowns while completing 78.3% of his passes. Meanwhile, Lucero Jr. was balling out in the loss, rushing for 53 yards and a touchdown on only five carries, while also throwing for 143 yards and a touchdown.
Chandler's win bumped their record up to 5-2. As for Basha, they pushed their record up to 6-1 with the victory, which was their tenth straight at home dating back to last season.
The upcoming game will be a clash of competing strengths. Chandler has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 167.9 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Basha has preferred to attack from the air: they average 282 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Chandler came up short against Basha in their previous matchup back in October of 2023, falling 47-42. Thankfully for Chandler, Demond Williams Jr. (who rushed for 126 yards and three touchdowns, and also threw for 235 yards and a touchdown while completing 78.9% of his passes) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
