Football Preview: Shadow Ridge Mustangs vs. Legacy Longhorns
The Shadow Ridge Mustangs will take on the Legacy Longhorns at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Shadow Ridge is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. Everything went their way against Sierra Vista as Shadow Ridge made off with a 42-20 victory. The win was nothing new for the Mustangs as they're now sitting on four straight.
Gage Crnkovic had a dynamite game for Shadow Ridge, rushing for 109 yards and a touchdown on only five carries. Crnkovic's longest rush was for an impressive 57 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total.
Shadow Ridge was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 318 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 155 rushing yards in 11 consecutive contests.
Shadow Ridge wouldn't let Sierra Vista keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force three fumbles. It was truly a group effort as Malahkai Berry, Mujahid Gilliard, and Ula Cox picked up one apiece. Shadow Ridge got some further help from Colton Richter: he picked up two sacks and made six total tackles (4.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, Legacy got the win against Silverado on Friday by a conclusive 28-6. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Longhorns.
Zaione Henderson was a one-man wrecking crew for Legacy as he rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns on only 11 carries. That's the most rushing yards Henderson has posted since back in September.
Shadow Ridge pushed their record up to 8-3 with the victory, which was their fourth straight at home. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 28 points. As for Legacy, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 7-4 record this season.
Friday's match might be decided in the trenches. Shadow Ridge has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 341.1 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for Legacy, though, as they've been averaging only 71.9. How will they fare against such a dominant running game?
Shadow Ridge took a serious blow against Legacy when the teams last played back in October, falling 43-14. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Henderson, who rushed for 77 yards and two touchdowns, and also picked up 30 receiving yards and a touchdown. Now that Shadow Ridge knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
