Football Preview: Eldorado Golden Eagles vs. Sandia Matadors
The Eldorado Golden Eagles will face off against the Sandia Matadors at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Eldorado is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of New Mexico's top teams: La Cueva, who was ranked first in their home state at the time (Eldorado was ranked 16th). Eldorado was outmatched by La Cueva on the road and fell 56-7. The loss continues a trend for the Golden Eagles in their matchups with the Bears: they've now lost four in a row.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Sandia). They blew past Atrisco Heritage Academy 52-14 at home two weeks ago. The Matadors might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won three contests by 30 points or more this season.
Sandia relied on the efforts of Lucas Hoswell, who rushed for 158 yards and a touchdown on only 12 carries, and Jahleel Lewis, who threw for 235 yards and two touchdowns while completing 78.6% of his passes. Those 158 rushing yards gave Hoswell a new career-high. Gad Harris was another key rusher, rushing for 51 yards and two touchdowns.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Sandia was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 237 rushing yards. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 79.3 rushing yards per game earlier this season, but in their last three matches they've averaged 174.3.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Sandia's defense and their four sacks. Atrisco Heritage Academy's QB won't forget Edgerin Garcia anytime soon given he sacked him twice. Garcia also sacked two sacks, which is notable because Sandia is undefeated when he posts at least two sacks, but 0-3 otherwise.
Eldorado's defeat dropped their record down to 3-3. As for Sandia, the victory also got them back to even at 3-3.
Things could have been worse for Eldorado, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 33-14 loss to Sandia when the teams last played back in October of 2023. Will Eldorado have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more football content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
