Football Preview: Northbrook Raiders vs. Stratford Spartans
Northbrook hasn't had much luck against Stratford recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Northbrook Raiders will venture away from home to face off against the Stratford Spartans at 7:00 p.m. Northbrook's defense has only allowed 18 points per game this season, so Stratford's offense will have their work cut out for them.
Northbrook's usually-dominant defense will be looking to make up for Thursday's struggle, when Jersey Village offense got past them. Northbrook had to suffer through a 51-0 loss at the hands of Jersey Village. While losing is never fun, the Raiders can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 972nd, while the Falcons are ranked 442nd).
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Stratford). They took their contest on the road on Friday with ease, bagging an 83-48 win over Cypress Creek. The victory was nothing new for the Spartans as they're now sitting on three straight.
Stratford's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Aaron Deleon, who rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns on only six carries, and also threw for 55 yards and a touchdown. The dominant performance gave Deleon a new career-high in rushing yards. Another rusher making a difference was Javier Denson, who gained 172 total yards and two touchdowns.
Stratford wouldn't let Cypress Creek keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force three fumbles. It was truly a group effort as Parker Johnson, Eric Ferworn, and Tiergan Burl picked up one apiece. Burl is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made five or more in the last 11 games he's played dating back to last season.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Stratford was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 388 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 214 rushing yards in four consecutive matches.
This is the second loss in a row for Northbrook and nudges their season record down to 2-2. As for Stratford, their victory was their fifth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 3-1.
Northbrook was dealt a bruising 49-0 defeat at the hands of Stratford when the teams last played back in October of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Deleon, who rushed for 66 yards and two touchdowns, and also threw for 128 yards and three touchdowns while completing 85.7% of his passes. Now that Northbrook 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
