Football Preview: Reagan County Owls vs. Ozona Lions
Reagan County and Ozona are an even 5-5 against one another since September of 2014, but not for long. After each having a week off, both will shake off the cobwebs and face off against one another at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams might be coming in a bit winded given these two teams combined for 864 yards in their previous games.
Reagan County's usually-dominant defense will be looking to make up for Thursday's struggle, when Iraan offense got past them. Reagan County fell to Iraan 34-28. The game marked the Owls' lowest-scoring contest so far this season.
Reagan County might have lost, but man, Chris Johnson was a machine: he rushed for 100 yards and three touchdowns. The dominant performance gave Johnson a new career-high in rushing yards. Backing up that air attack was Jarrett Brown, who rushed for 98 yards.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Reagan County was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 264 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 177 rushing yards in four consecutive matches.
Reagan County didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Johnson and Alfredo Hidalgo.
Meanwhile, Ozona didn't have too much breathing room in their matchup against Miles last Friday, but they still walked away with a 34-28 win. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Lions.
Christian Villarreal was his usual excellent self, rushing for 192 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 8.3 yards per carry, and also picking up 48 receiving yards. Villarreal is crushing it when it comes to rushing yards: he's rushed for at least 122 every time he's taken the field this season. Another player making a difference was Hudson Fowler, who threw for 233 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 11.1 yards per attempt.
The loss snapped Reagan County's winning streak at four games and leaves them with a 4-1 record. As for Ozona, their victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 4-1.
Friday's contest might be decided in the on the ground. Reagan County has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 213.8 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Ozona struggles in that department as they've been averaging 256.8. It's looking like Friday's game might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Reagan County came up short against Ozona in their previous matchup back in October of 2023, falling 40-31. Can Reagan County avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
