Football Preview: Payson Longhorns vs. Blue Ridge Yellow Jackets
After each having a week off, the Payson Longhorns and the Blue Ridge Yellow Jackets will dust off their jerseys to challenge one another at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Payson comes in on three and Blue Ridge on seven.
Payson will bounce into Friday's matchup after beating Round Valley, who they had gone 0-4 against in their four prior meetings. Payson snuck past Round Valley with a 29-25 win two weeks ago.
A big part of Payson's victory came down to the chemistry between Nolan Keeney and his top target Keaton Potter. Keeney threw for 236 yards and three touchdowns while Potter picked up 73 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Payson didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Mason Hererra and Bert Scheer. Another thorn in Round Valley's side was Jonny McAnerny, who picked up 0.5 sacks, forced a fumble, and made eight total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Blue Ridge). They took their match at home last Friday with ease, bagging a 62-7 win over Fountain Hills. The Yellow Jackets might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won six games by 20 points or more this season.
Karlo Harris was his usual excellent self, rushing for 122 yards and two touchdowns on only six carries, while also picking up 30 receiving yards and a touchdown. The bulk of those rushing yards came from one huge play: a run that gained an incredible 65 yards. Luke Berlin was another key player, throwing for 115 yards and two touchdowns on only eight passes.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Blue Ridge's defense and their seven sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Noah Chee and Anthony Seitz, who racked up four sacks between them. Seitz is also crushing it when it comes to total tackles: he's made at least five every time he's taken the field this season.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Blue Ridge was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 248 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 172 rushing yards in seven consecutive contests.
Payson's victory bumped their record up to 6-1. As for Blue Ridge, their win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 7-0.
Payson was dealt a bruising 44-13 defeat at the hands of Blue Ridge in their previous matchup back in October of 2023. Thankfully for Payson, Jace Barton (who rushed for 134 yards, and also picked up 49 receiving yards) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
