Football Preview: Memorial Mustangs vs. Stratford Spartans
Memorial and Stratford are an even 5-5 against one another since August of 2014, but not for long. The Memorial Mustangs are taking a road trip to take on the Stratford Spartans at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Memorial is coming into the match hot, having won their last three games.
Last Thursday, Memorial earned a 24-14 win over Jersey Village.
Austin Alpe went supernova for Memorial, rushing for 72 yards and two touchdowns on only six carries, while also throwing for 120 yards and a touchdown. The dominant performance gave Alpe a new career-high in rushing yards. A healthy portion of Alpe's aerial production (84 yards to be exact) went to Carson Wall, who also brought in a receiving touchdown.
Memorial's defense stepped up as well, laying out Brock Nichols. seven times. Isaac Richardson was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up two sacks himself. He also made ten total tackles, which is notable because Memorial is 2-1 when he posts at least four total tackles, but 2-4 otherwise.
Meanwhile, after only 12 points in their last game, Stratford made sure to put some points up on the board against Cypress Ridge last Thursday. Stratford blew past Cypress Ridge 42-10. Considering the Spartans have won five contests by more than 31 points this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.
Javier Denson was his usual excellent self, rushing for 116 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries. Aaron Deleon was another key player, rushing for 92 yards and a touchdown on only 11 carries.
Stratford didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off four passes before the game was over. Parker Johnson led the group effort, picking up two of those interceptions all by himself. He is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made six or more in the last 11 games he's played dating back to last season.
Memorial is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 4-5 record this season. Those victories were due in large part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 14.4 points per game. As for Stratford, their record is now 6-3.
Things could have been worse for Memorial, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 24-10 loss to Stratford in their previous matchup back in October of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Deleon, who threw for 279 yards and two touchdowns, and also rushed for 56 yards on only seven carries. Now that Memorial knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
