Football Preview: Tonopah Valley Phoenix vs. Arizona Lutheran Academy Coyotes
The Tonopah Valley Phoenix have the luxury of staying home for another week and will welcome the Arizona Lutheran Academy Coyotes at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both have allowed few points on average, (Tonopah Valley: 11.6, Arizona Lutheran Academy: 12.9) so any points scored will be well earned.
Tonopah Valley will head into Friday's contest having proved themselves against Parker: Tonopah Valley took a 36-point loss the last time they faced off against Parker, but they managed to turn things around on Friday. Tonopah Valley narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past Parker 24-22. The 24-point effort marked the Phoenix's lowest-scoring game of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
A big part of Tonopah Valley's victory came down to the chemistry between Sir-Izzik S?nchez Caldwell and his top target Najea Cooper. S?nchez Caldwell threw for 152 yards and a touchdown while Cooper picked up 111 receiving yards and a touchdown. Cooper's receiving production has been exceptional recently as that marked his fourth straight game with at least 105 receiving yards. Speaking of playmakers, who could forget Konner Bruner, who went all the way with a kickoff return for a touchdown.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Arizona Lutheran Academy). They blew past Miami, posting an 80-20 win. Considering the Coyotes have won six matches by more than 29 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Elijah Harris was his usual excellent self, rushing for 241 yards and four touchdowns on only six carries. His longest rush was for an incredible 82 yards. Another back making a difference was Sebby Guye, who rushed for 92 yards and two touchdowns on only six carries.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Arizona Lutheran Academy's defense and their 11 sacks. Liam Enter was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up 6.5 himself. He also set a new season high mark in rushing yards with 118.
Arizona Lutheran Academy was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 633 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Tonopah Valley pushed their record up to 11-0 with the victory, which was their 12th straight at home dating back to last season. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 46.3 points per game. As for Arizona Lutheran Academy, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 8-3.
The upcoming matchup will be a clash of competing strengths. Tonopah Valley has relied on air attacks this season and has averaged 311.5 passing yards per game. Arizona Lutheran Academy, on the other hand, has relied on a stout run game: they average 331.2 rushing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Tonopah Valley didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Arizona Lutheran Academy in their previous matchup back in October, but they still walked away with a 30-24 victory. Will Tonopah Valley repeat their success, or does Arizona Lutheran Academy have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
