Football Preview: Cienega Bobcats vs. Casa Grande Cougars
A feisty cat fight will be fought when Bobcats faces off against the Casa Grande Cougars at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Cienega will roll into the game after a wild two-game stretch: they only put up seven points last Friday, then bounced right back against Sunnyside on Friday. Cienega blew past Sunnyside 42-21. The matchup was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 35-7.
Julian Hainley went supernova for Cienega, throwing for 222 yards and three touchdowns on only 18 passes, while also punching in two touchdowns on the ground. Hainley is becoming a predictor of Cienega's success: when he posts at least two rushing touchdowns the team is undefeated (and 0-4 when he doesn't). Jaden Rodgers was another key player, picking up 128 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Cienega didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Kadin Thomas and Alec Anaya.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Casa Grande). They breezed by Desert View to the tune of 63-34 on Friday. The result was nothing new for the Cougars, who have now won five contests by 26 points or more so far this season.
Casa Grande got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Luke Keeton out in front who threw for 391 yards and six touchdowns while completing 78.8% of his passes, and also rushed for 32 yards. Another player making a difference was Aveon Williams, who gained 155 total yards and four touchdowns.
Casa Grande was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 256 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in October of 2023.
Casa Grande's defensive line made their presence known, laying out the QB four times. Lelend Cevedia was especially locked on to Desert View's QB and sacked him twice.
The victory got Cienega back to even at 4-4. As for Casa Grande, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 6-3.
The upcoming match will be a clash of competing strengths. Cienega has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 161.1 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Casa Grande has preferred to attack from the air: they average 286.7 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Cienega was taken down by Casa Grande 53-21 when the teams last played back in October of 2023. Thankfully for Cienega, Nathan Long (who rushed for 138 yards and two touchdowns on only ten carries) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
