Football Preview: Payson Lions vs. Provo Bulldogs
The Payson Lions will head out on the road to face off against the Provo Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Payson has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the match with four straight defeats, while Provo will come in with three straight wins.
Last Friday, Payson ended up a good deal behind Murray and lost 32-13. The Lions were down 26-6 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.
Despite the loss, Payson got top-tier performance from Seth Staley, who picked up 135 receiving yards and a touchdown. Staley torched the secondary when he pulled down a catch that went for 90 yards. Trevyn Wall was another key player, having thrown for 286 yards and onetouchdown.
Payson's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Asher Geldmacher and Gabriel Sanders.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Provo). They came out on top against Timpanogos by a score of 48-35 on Friday.
Gehrig Orchard was the offensive standout of the matchup as he threw for 244 yards and two touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Provo was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 267 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 195 rushing yards in three consecutive contests.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Provo's defensive line and their six sacks. Griffin Demartini was especially locked on to Timpanogos' QB and sacked him five times.
Payson's defeat dropped their record down to 1-5. As for Provo, their victory was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 3-2.
Payson didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Provo in their previous meeting back in October of 2023, but they still walked away with a 27-21 win. Will Payson repeat their success, or does Provo have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
