Two dominant backs in Karsten Cornell and Bentley Corbin are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. After each having a week off, the Boulder Creek Jaguars and the O'Connor Eagles will dust off their jerseys to square off against one another at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Boulder Creek is no doubt hoping to put an end to a four-game streak of away losses dating back to last season.
Boulder Creek will roll into the match after a wild two-game stretch: they only put up seven points back in September, then bounced right back against Mountain Ridge last Friday. Boulder Creek blew past Mountain Ridge 63-22 at home. The victory was a breath of fresh air for the Jaguars as it put an end to their six-game losing streak dating back to last season.
Boulder Creek can attribute much of their success to Everett Stano, who rushed for 137 yards and two touchdowns on only nine carries, and Cornell, who gained 237 total yards and four touchdowns. The dominant performance also gave Cornell a new career-high in rushing yards. Brennan Curtin also helped with three touchdowns in total.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Boulder Creek was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 334 rushing yards. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 79.7 rushing yards per game earlier this season, but in their last three contests they've averaged 199.7.
Boulder Creek didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Vincent Lorgeree and Noah Axlund. Axlund is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made five or more in the last four games he's played dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, O'Connor had to endure a four-game losing streak, but that streak is no more. They enjoyed a cozy 42-26 win over Shadow Ridge last Friday. Given the Eagles' advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona football rankings (they are ranked 31st, while the Stallions are ranked 98th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
O'Connor's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Corbin, who rushed for 128 yards and three touchdowns on only ten carries. Jeremy Adeyanju also helped out as he racked up 141 rushing yards.
Boulder Creek's first victory this season bumped their record up to 1-5. As for O'Connor, their record now sits at 2-4.
Boulder Creek came out on top in a nail-biter against O'Connor when the teams last played back in October of 2023, sneaking past 17-14. The rematch might be a little tougher for Boulder Creek since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
