Football Preview: Mica Mountain Thunderbolts vs. Casa Grande Cougars
The Mica Mountain Thunderbolts will head out to face off against the Casa Grande Cougars at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are still undefeated after four-games, but that won't be the case come Friday.
Mica Mountain's defense heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Thursday. They blew past Sunnyside, posting a 28-0 victory at home. The Thunderbolts' defense has been rock solid lately; the team hasn't given up a point in their last three matchups.
Mica Mountain can attribute much of their success to Jimmy Leon, who picked up 64 receiving yards and two touchdowns. An impressive showing, but Leon really ramped things up playing D: he picked up two sacks, made six total tackles (3.5 for loss), and made six total tackles (3.5 for loss).
Mica Mountain wouldn't let Sunnyside keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force three fumbles. It was truly a group effort as Rogan Piper, Shangkat Jwander, and Jwander picked up one apiece.
Meanwhile, you're bound to get a positive result if you outscore your opponent every quarter, and that's exactly how it played out for Casa Grande on Friday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that they blew Maricopa out of the water with a 45-7 final score. The Cougars pushed the score to 38-7 by the end of the third, a deficit the Rams had no chance of recovering from.
Luke Keeton and Cameron Armstrong were among the main playmakers for Casa Grande as the former threw for 276 yards and three touchdowns and the latter gained 183 total yards and two touchdowns. The dominant performance also gave Keeton a new career-high in rushing yards. A healthy portion of that aerial production (92 yards to be exact) went to Kendale Cade, who also brought in a receiving touchdown.
Casa Grande's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged three passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Izayah Gant and DeSean Kelley. Gant also set a new season high mark in total tackles with six. Another thorn in Maricopa's side was Johnathan Marley, who picked up 1.5 sacks and made 12 total tackles.
Mica Mountain pushed their record up to 4-0 with the win, which was their ninth straight at home dating back to last season. As for Casa Grande, their victory bumped their record up to an identical 4-0.
Mica Mountain strolled past Casa Grande when the teams last played back in September of 2023 by a score of 42-27. The rematch might be a little tougher for Mica Mountain since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
