Preview: El Dorado Golden Hawks vs. El Modena Vanguards
El Dorado is 1-8 against El Modena since October of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The El Dorado Golden Hawks will look to defend their home field against the El Modena Vanguards at 7:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Last Friday, El Dorado got themselves on the board against Canyon, but Canyon never followed suit. They took their game at home with ease, bagging a 41-0 win over the Comanches. 41 seems to be a good number for El Dorado as the squad scooped up a win with the same number of points in their previous game.
Nate Bento was his usual excellent self, rushing for 140 yards on only ten carries, while also throwing for 108 yards and two touchdowns. Bento's longest rush was for an incredible 73 yards. J.P. Murray also helped out as he racked up 108 rushing yards.
Meanwhile, El Modena made easy work of Esperanza on Friday and carried off a 41-20 win. The matchup was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 34-7.
Brodie Hitchens and Xzavior Guess were among the main playmakers for El Modena as the former rushed for 75 yards and three touchdowns and the latter threw for 274 yards and two touchdowns while completing 82.1% of his passes. Deron Taylor was another key contributor, picking up 62 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Their wins lifted both teams to an identical 4-4.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's game: El Dorado has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 188.8 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like El Modena struggles in that department as they've been averaging 150.4 per game. It's looking like Friday's match might have some serious battles in the trenches.
El Dorado was dealt a bruising 50-21 loss at the hands of El Modena in their previous meeting back in October of 2022. Thankfully for El Dorado, Owen Smith (who rushed for 149 yards and a touchdown) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
