The Pioneer Diamondbacks will challenge the Boerne Greyhounds at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Pioneer is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They put the hurt on Edcouch-Elsa with a sharp 42-21 win. The high-scoring performance was a welcome turnaround for the Diamondbacks' offense, which had struggled in the games prior.
William Goodloe had another great game (as he tends to do), rushing for 107 yards and two TDs on only 11 carries, while also throwing for 66 yards and one touchdown. His longest rush was for an impressive 56 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total.
They were just one part of a punishing run game: Pioneer was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 342 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in September.
Meanwhile, Boerne had already won nine in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 22 points) and they went ahead and made it ten on Friday. They took their contest with ease, bagging a 42-13 victory over the Texans. The result was nothing new for the Greyhounds, who have now won six games by 24 points or more so far this season.
The match pitted two dominant signal callers against one another in Grant Sweeney and Tripp Thompson. Sweeney had a great game and rushed for 85 yards and one score on only eight carries. Meanwhile, Thompson did his best for the losing side, throwing for 200 yards and one touchdown, while also rushing for 54 yards.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Boerne's defense and their four sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Ben Bays and Cash Gatlin, who racked up all four sacks between them. Gatlin is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made six or more in each of the last nine games he's played.
Pioneer's record now sits at 7-4. As for Boerne, their record is now 10-1.
The upcoming matchup will be a clash of competing strengths. Pioneer has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 224 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Boerne has preferred to attack from the air: they average 296.8 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Thursday? There's only one way to find out.
