Football Preview: Rancho Verde Mustangs vs. Paloma Valley Wildcats
Rancho Verde has gone 4-0 against Paloma Valley recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Rancho Verde Mustangs will venture away from home to face off against the Paloma Valley Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. Rancho Verde is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 27 points per game this season.
Rancho Verde is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They enjoyed a cozy 58-40 victory over Vista del Lago on Thursday. The Mustangs pushed the score to 44-21 by the end of the third, a deficit the Ravens cut but never quite recovered from.
C.J. Thompson went supernova for Rancho Verde, throwing for 330 yards and five touchdowns while completing 72.4% of his passes. Jimmy Cruz was in the mix too, providing Rancho Verde with two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Paloma Valley, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Friday. They came out on top against JW North by a score of 29-21 on Friday.
It was another big night for Javon Major, who rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown on only nine carries, and also picked up 68 receiving yards and a touchdown. He also put in work on the defensive side of the ball, picking up a sack and making eight total tackles (2.0 for loss). Another player making a difference was Isaac Navarro, who threw for 169 yards and two touchdowns while completing 80% of his passes.
The win (which was Rancho Verde's third in a row) raised their record to 4-3. As for Paloma Valley, they pushed their record up to 5-2 with the victory, which was their fourth straight at home dating back to last season.
Friday's matchup will pit two of the most dominant backs against one another: Brandon Gilliam and Major. Gilliam has put up some stellar numbers this year, and currently owns excellent season averages 76.7 rushing yards per game this season. For his part, Major has averaged 82.9 rushing yards per game this season.
Everything came up roses for Rancho Verde against Paloma Valley in their previous matchup back in October of 2019, as the squad secured a 56-7 win. Will Rancho Verde repeat their success, or does Paloma Valley have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
