Football Preview: Round Valley Elks vs. Payson Longhorns
Round Valley has gone 4-0 against Payson recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Round Valley Elks will be staying on the road to face off against the Payson Longhorns at 7:00 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.
Round Valley is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They put the hurt on Show Low with a sharp 41-15 win on Thursday.
Round Valley found their leader in underclassman Kage Finch, who threw for 279 yards and four touchdowns while completing 76% of his passes, and also rushed for 49 yards. 96 of those passing yards were hauled in by Jeffrey Cochran, who also brought in two receiving touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Round Valley was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 258 rushing yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Show Low only rushed for 151.
Round Valley's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged four passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Connor Lueker and Cochran.
Meanwhile, Payson was fully in charge on Friday, breezing past Chino Valley 46-6 on the road. The Longhorns might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four contests by 25 points or more this season.
Nolan Keeney was a one-man wrecking crew for Payson as he threw for 195 yards and four touchdowns.
Another reason for the win was Payson's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for five sacks. In that department, Brayden Lee was the leader with two. He also set a new season high mark in total tackles with seven. Payson got some further help from Jonny McAnerny: he picked up a sack and made 15 total tackles (3.0 for loss).
Round Valley now has a winning record of 3-2. As for Payson, they pushed their record up to 5-1 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road.
Round Valley didn't have too much breathing room in their match against Payson in their previous matchup back in September of 2023, but they still walked away with a 7-3 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Round Valley since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
