Football Preview: Centennial Bulldogs vs. Durango Trailblazers
The Centennial Bulldogs will venture away from home to challenge the Durango Trailblazers at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Centennial is looking for their season?s first victory.
Centennial is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 32 points last Friday, they were much more limited against Snow Canyon on Friday. They took a blow against the Warriors, falling 47-10. The Bulldogs were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 41-3.
Meanwhile, after only eight points in their last game, Durango made sure to put some points up on the board against Bonanza on Friday. Durango blew past Bonanza 48-7 at home. Considering the Trailblazers' offense had been struggling lately, the high-scoring outing was a much-needed turnaround.
Makai Miller was nothing short of spectacular: he rushed for 182 yards and a touchdown while picking up 10.7 yards per carry. His longest rush was for an incredible 70 yards. Alexander Mercurius was another key player, rushing for 55 yards and two touchdowns on only five carries.
Durango's defense stepped up as well, laying out the QB three times. In that department, Emmanuel Peter was the leader with two sacks. He also deserves a shoutout for his performance on D, picking up two sacks, forcing a fumble, and making three total tackles (3.0 for loss) which he returned for a touchdown. Nysear Smith was another major factor on D, forcing a fumble, making 11 total tackles (2.0 for loss), and defending a pass.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Durango was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 245 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since was before the start of last season.
Centennial's loss dropped their record down to 0-3. As for Durango, their win ended a five-game drought at home dating back to last season and bumped them up to 2-2.
Centennial came up short against Durango in their previous matchup back in August of 2021, falling 32-28. Can Centennial avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
