Football Preview: Tivy Antlers vs. Victoria West Warriors
Two dominant signal callers in Seth Shuler and Dominick Martinez are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Tivy Antlers will head out on the road to square off against the Victoria West Warriors at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Victoria West is hoping to do what Harlandale couldn't on Friday: put an end to Tivy's winning streak, which now stands at three games. Tivy breezed by Harlandale at home to the tune of 46-11. Given the Antlers' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 350th, while the Indians are ranked 817th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Tivy found their leader in underclassman Shuler, who threw for 328 yards and four touchdowns while completing 74.3% of his passes, and also punched in a rushing score. Shuler has been hot recently, having posted three or more passing touchdowns the last three times he's played. Another player making a difference was Guy Flores, who picked up 137 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Tivy wouldn't let Harlandale keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Tivy can thank Curtis Woods and Robert Johnson for forcing both of them. With that strong performance, Woods is now averaging an impressive 5.7 total tackles per game. Tivy got some further help from River Risinger: he made ten total tackles and snagged an interception.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Victoria West). They took their match on the road on Friday with ease, bagging a 53-14 victory over McCollum. The game was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 40-0.
Victoria West's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Jenesis Jeffries, who rushed for 61 yards and a touchdown, and also picked up 49 receiving yards and a touchdown. Tristan Bernard was another key player, gaining 87 total yards and two touchdowns.
Victoria West's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged four passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Ethan Guerra and Trevor Robinson.
Tivy's win bumped their record up to 4-1. As for Victoria West, the victory for them keeps them at an undefeated 5-0.
The upcoming contest will be a clash of competing strengths. Tivy has relied on air attacks this season and has averaged 332.8 passing yards per game. Victoria West, on the other hand, has relied on a stout run game: they average 160.8 rushing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Tivy skirted past Victoria West 20-17 in their previous meeting back in November of 2017. Will Tivy repeat their success, or does Victoria West have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
