Football Preview: Natchitoches Central Chiefs vs. Airline Vikings
The Natchitoches Central Chiefs will head out on the road to challenge the Airline Vikings at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Natchitoches Central has struggled recently with six defeats in a row, while Airline will arrive with seven straight victories.
Last Friday, Natchitoches Central came up short against Byrd and fell 31-21. While losing is never fun, the Chiefs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Louisiana football rankings (they are ranked 153rd, while the Yellow Jackets are ranked 32nd).
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 Airline on Friday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that they blew Haughton out of the water with a 56-13 final score. That 43 point margin sets a new team best for the Vikings this season.
Airline can attribute much of their success to Ben Taylor, who threw for 209 yards and four touchdowns, and DJ Allen, who gained 88 total yards and three touchdowns. Taylor is on a roll when it comes to passing touchdowns, as he's now passed for four or more in the last five games he's played dating back to last season. A healthy portion of that aerial production (93 yards to be exact) went to Kenny Darby, who also brought in a receiving touchdown.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Airline was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 222 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since the start of last season.
Natchitoches Central's loss dropped their record down to 1-7. As for Airline, they pushed their record up to 7-0 with the win, which was their eighth straight on the road dating back to last season.
Natchitoches Central might still be hurting after the 41-21 defeat they got from Airline in their previous matchup back in September of 2023. That contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point Natchitoches Central was down 27-7.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
