The Rudder Rangers will welcome the Waco Lions at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both have had a bumpy ride up to this point with three consecutive losses for Rudder and six for Waco.
Last Thursday, Rudder came up short against Ellison and fell 54-41. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game two weeks ago (34), the Rangers still had to take the loss.
The match pitted two dominant signal callers against one another in Javyn Jessie and Sidney Holland Jr. Holland Jr had a great game and threw for 370 yards and two touchdowns. Meanwhile, Jessie was balling out in the loss, throwing for 305 yards and three touchdowns, while also rushing for 63 yards on only six carries.
Meanwhile, Waco was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Friday as they fell 29-23 to Belton. The Lions gained 97 more yards on the day, but it was the Tigers that made the best use of them.
Despite their loss, Waco saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Bryant Whitaker, who picked up 161 receiving yards and two touchdowns, was perhaps the best of all. RJ Young was another key passer, throwing for 247 yards and three touchdowns on only 16 passes.
Waco didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Isaiah Levingston and Jamal Johnson. Waco got some further help from Jaylen Gude: he picked up a sack and made 16 total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Waco's defeat dropped their record down to 2-7. As for Rudder, their loss dropped their record down to 6-3.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's matchup: Rudder has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 371.7 total yards per game. It's a different story for Waco, though, as they've been averaging only 222.8. Will Rudder be able to march up the field at their leisure again, or will Waco flip the script?
Rudder was taken down by Waco 35-7 when the teams last played back in October of 2017. That game was all but decided by halftime, at which point Rudder was down 21-0.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
