Football Preview: Higley Knights vs. Liberty Lions
Two dominant signal callers in Luke Haugo and Hayden Fletcher are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. After each having a week off, the Higley Knights and the Liberty Lions will dust off their jerseys to take on one another at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Higley is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Arizona's top teams: Williams Field, who was ranked 23rd in their home state at the time (Higley was ranked seventh). Higley took their matchup last Friday with ease, bagging a 41-7 win over Williams Field. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Knights.
Gunner Fagrell was a one-man wrecking crew for Higley as he threw for 351 yards and four touchdowns while completing 79.4% of his passes, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground. Jaden Taylor was in the mix as well, providing Higley with three touchdowns.
Higley didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Memphis Stuesser and Dylan Hostallero. Higley got some further help from Jayden Rhodes: he picked up two sacks and made ten total tackles (3.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, Liberty entered their tilt with Centennial last Friday with five consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with six. They claimed a resounding 45-17 victory over the Coyotes.
Liberty got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Fletcher out in front who threw for 226 yards and three touchdowns. Dominic Lombardo helped Fletcher out on the ground, rushing for 84 yards and a touchdown.
Liberty wouldn't let Centennial keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force three fumbles. It was truly a group effort as Malaki Payes, Cannon Garday, and Tyvel Calloway picked up one apiece. Hudson Dunn was another major factor on D, picking up 1.5 sacks and making seven total tackles (4.5 for loss).
Liberty's victory was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 9-1. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 43.7 points per game. As for Higley, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 7-3 record this season.
The upcoming game will be a clash of competing strengths. Higley has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 148.9 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Liberty has preferred to attack from the air: they average 271.4 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
