Football Game Preview: Stroud Tigers vs. Alva Goldbugs

The Stroud Tigers will head out on the road to face off against the Alva Goldbugs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Stroud has four straight wins, Alva has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

If Stroud beats Alva with 54 points on Friday, it's going to be the team's new lucky number: they've won their past two contests with that exact score. The Tigers took their game on Friday with ease, bagging a 54-8 victory over Meeker. The Tigers pushed the score to 54-0 by the end of the third, a deficit the Bulldogs cut but never quite recovered from.

It was another big night for Aiden Collins, who picked up 56 receiving yards and one score, and also punched in one TD on the ground. Jacob Beck also helped with two touchdowns in total.

Stroud didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. Beck picked up that interception and then proceeded to rub salt in the wound by taking it back the other way for a touchdown. He got in on the action too, converting a pick into a touchdown.

Special teams also played a big role in the game for Stroud, adding 12 points to the final score. The biggest highlight from special teams (and perhaps the team as a whole) came courtesy of Collins, who ran a kickoff back for a touchdown.

Meanwhile, Alva played a tough matchup on Friday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They came up short against Hennessey, falling 42-21. That's two games in a row now that the Goldbugs have lost by exactly 21 points.

Alva's defeat dropped their record down to 1-4. As for Stroud, their win bumped their record up to 4-1.

Everything came up roses for Stroud against Alva in their previous matchup back in October of 2024, as the squad secured a 54-15 victory. In that contest, the Tigers amassed a halftime lead of 34-8, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.