Football Preview: Heritage Patriots vs. Pittsburg Pirates
Heritage hasn't had much luck against Pittsburg recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Heritage Patriots and the Pittsburg Pirates are set to duel. The two teams are strolling into their matches after big wins in their previous games.
Pittsburg is hoping to do what Deer Valley couldn't on Friday: put an end to Heritage's winning streak, which now stands at five games. Heritage took their contest at home with ease, bagging a 38-7 win over Deer Valley. Given the Patriots' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 330th, while the Wolverines are ranked 701st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Heritage can attribute much of their success to Austin Peters, who threw for 145 yards and two touchdowns on only 11 passes, and Ilias Muhammad, who gained 123 total yards and a touchdown. The dominant performance also gave Peters a new career-high in rushing yards.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Heritage was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 200 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 196 rushing yards in three consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, Pittsburg never let their opponents score on Friday. They claimed a resounding 49-0 victory over Freedom at home. That looming 49-0 mark stands out as the most commanding margin for the Pirates yet this season.
It was another big night for Marley Alcantara, who threw for 238 yards and five touchdowns while completing 87.5% of his passes. Another player making a difference was Jamar Searcy, who rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown.
Heritage's win bumped their record up to 5-1. As for Pittsburg, their victory was their 14th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 5-1.
Friday's game might be decided in the on the ground. Heritage has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 152.8 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Pittsburg struggles in that department as they've been averaging 228.8. It's looking like Friday's match might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Heritage was taken down by Pittsburg 56-28 in their previous meeting back in October of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Pittsburg's Elijah Bow, who rushed for 233 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 14.6 yards per carry, and also caught a touchdown. Now that Heritage knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
