The Rocklin Thunder will square off against the Lincoln Trojans at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Rocklin is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another highly-ranked state team: Bishop Manogue, who was ranked fourth at the time (Rocklin was ranked 24th). Rocklin blew past Bishop Manogue 48-17 at home on Friday. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as the Thunder just coasted through the last quarter.
Rocklin relied on the efforts of Derek Keeley, who rushed for 95 yards and two touchdowns on only 13 carries, and Reeve Slone, who threw for 131 yards and two touchdowns. Keeley didn't just play on offense: he also picked up two sacks and made four total tackles in addition to snagging two interceptions. Another rusher making a difference was Rafi Merino, who rushed for 69 yards and two touchdowns.
Merino wasn't the only one working in the rushing yards department: Rocklin was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 226 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in September of 2023.
Rocklin's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. In fact, those interceptions all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Keeley. Rocklin got some further help from Travis Ledbetter: he picked up two sacks and made three total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, Lincoln blew past Freedom, posting a 45-12 victory on the road. Given the Trojans' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 241st, while the Falcons are ranked 584th), the result on Friday wasn't entirely unexpected.
A big part of the win came down to the chemistry between Julian Perez and his top target Terrence Hampton. Perez threw for 213 yards and three touchdowns while Hampton picked up 162 receiving yards and three touchdowns. With that strong performance, Hampton is now averaging an impressive 111 receiving yards per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Jordin Thomas, who rushed for 103 yards and a touchdown.
The victory made it two in a row for Rocklin and bumps their season record up to 2-0. As for Lincoln, the win also got them back to even at 1-1.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
