Football Preview: Basha Bears vs. Liberty Lions
Basha is on a 12-game streak of home wins (dating back to last season), while Liberty is on a seven-game streak of away wins (also dating back to last season): one of those streaks is about to end. The Basha Bears will host the Liberty Lions at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. One thing working in Basha's favor is that they have posted at least 31 points in their last eight matchups.
Basha is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They snuck past ALA - Queen Creek with a 40-35 win. Basha's victory was all the more impressive since the Patriots were averaging only 11.92 points allowed on the season.
Basha's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Noah Roberts led the charge by rushing for 89 yards and a touchdown, while also picking up 31 receiving yards and a touchdown. Joshua Gaines was another key rusher, rushing for 107 yards and two touchdowns.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Basha's defensive line and their four sacks. Darian (Bleu) Dantzler was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up 2.5 himself. Basha got some further help from Eli Cramer-Cronin: he picked up 1.5 sacks and made ten total tackles.
Basha was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 202 rushing yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as ALA - Queen Creek only rushed for 73.
Meanwhile, Liberty faced Hamilton in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Saturday. Liberty took their contest with ease, bagging a 56-24 win over Hamilton. The Lions might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won nine matches by 22 points or more this season.
The match pitted two dominant signal callers against one another in Hayden Fletcher and Rich Lucero Jr.. Fletcher had a great game and threw for 235 yards and five touchdowns while completing 81.5% of his passes. Meanwhile, Lucero Jr. was balling out in the loss, throwing for 246 yards and a touchdown, while also punching in two touchdowns on the ground.
Liberty's victory bumped their record up to 11-1. As for Basha, their win bumped their record up to an identical 11-1.
Basha took a serious blow against Liberty when the teams last played back in October of 2022, falling 35-7. Thankfully for Basha, Navi Bruzon (who threw for 248 yards and three touchdowns while completing 85% of his passes, and also rushed for 46 yards and a touchdown) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
