Football Preview: Sonora Raiders vs. Troy Warriors
The Sonora Raiders will face off against the Troy Warriors at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Sonora is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They blew past Redlands East Valley 65-42 on Friday. Winning may never get old, but the Raiders sure are getting used to it with their third in a row.
The match pitted two dominant backs against one another in Anthony Abad and Nathen Lopez. Abad had a great game and rushed for 252 yards and four touchdowns on only 15 carries. Meanwhile, Lopez was balling out in the loss, rushing for 103 yards and a touchdown on only 14 carries, while also picking up 93 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Sonora's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Jason Colligan and Olin Morales Hyder. The dominant performance also gave Morales Hyder a new career-high in rushing yards.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Sonora was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 580 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 349 rushing yards in three consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, Troy was fully in charge on Friday, breezing past Segerstrom 42-10 at home. The match was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 28-3.
It was another big night for Vander Ploog, who picked up 194 receiving yards and four touchdowns. Rudy Alcala was another key player, throwing for 244 yards and four touchdowns while completing 78.3% of his passes.
Sonora now has a winning record of 3-2. As for Troy, their victory bumped their record up to 4-1.
Friday's game might be decided in the on the ground. Sonora has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 301.6 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Troy struggles in that department as they've been averaging 246.4. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Everything went Sonora's way against Troy in their previous matchup back in October of 2023, as Sonora made off with a 34-14 win. Will Sonora repeat their success, or does Troy have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
