The Cheyenne Mountain Red-Tailed Hawks will face off against the Grand Junction Tigers at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Cheyenne Mountain is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They claimed a resounding 56-6 victory over Thornton at home. With the Red-Tailed Hawks ahead 35-6 at the half, the match was all but over already.
Cheyenne Mountain got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Sam Hawker out in front who rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown, and also threw for 53 yards and two touchdowns on only five passes. Hawker got the majority of those rushing yards when he took off on a run that went for an incredible 50 yards. Another rusher making a difference was Tyler Kriss, who rushed for 97 yards on only eight carries.
Cheyenne Mountain didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Conor Kaveney and Christian Barnard. What's more, Kaveney also racked up five rushing yards, the mosthe's had since back in August.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Cheyenne Mountain was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 292 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 152 rushing yards in nine consecutive matchups dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, Grand Junction waltzed into their game on Thursday with two straight wins... but they left with three. Everything went their way against the Warriors as they made off with a 42-22 victory. The Tigers pushed the score to 42-8 by the end of the third, a deficit the Warriors cut but never quite recovered from.
Mathias Martinez and Noah Watkins were among the main playmakers for Grand Junction as the former rushed for 126 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries and the latter rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns on only ten carries. Will Applegate was another key player, rushing for 16 yards and a touchdown.
Grand Junction wouldn't let Centaurus keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Grand Junction can thank Jacob Siegfried and Izaak Martinez for forcing both of them.
Cheyenne Mountain's win bumped their record up to 6-2. As for Grand Junction, their victory was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 7-1.
Friday's contest might be decided in the on the ground. Cheyenne Mountain has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 240.4 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Grand Junction struggles in that department as they've been averaging 238.6. It's looking like Friday's match might have some serious battles in the trenches. Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other football content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
