The Eaglecrest Raptors will face off against the Legacy Lightning at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Eaglecrest has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the matchup with three straight defeats, while Legacy will come in with three straight wins.
Eaglecrest is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Colorado's top teams: Arapahoe, who was ranked 12th at the time (Eaglecrest was ranked 16th). The Raptors fell 28-23 to the Warriors on Friday. The Raptors gained 101 more yards on the day, but it was the Warriors that made the best use of them.
Eaglecrest's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of William Brinkman, who rushed for 93 yards and one score on only nine carries, and Quincy Clayton, who gained 108 total yards.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Legacy). Everything went their way against Vista PEAK Prep on Thursday as they made off with a 59-35 victory. The Lightning might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won three games by 20 points or more this season.
Legacy's win came from a few key players Eaglecrest will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Andrew Gardner, who threw for 276 yards and one touchdown while completing 79.2% of his passes. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in passer rating (112.5). A healthy portion of Gardner's aerial production (115 yards to be exact) went to Peyton Studebaker.
Legacy was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 305 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
One reason for the win was Legacy's imposing defensive line, which managed to get into the backfield for seven sacks. Vista PEAK Prep's QB won't forget Corbin Combs anytime soon given he sacked him 2.5 times. Combs also set a new season-high mark in total tackles with ten.
Eaglecrest's defeat dropped their record down to 6-4. As for Legacy, their record now sits at an identical 6-4.
Things could have been worse for Eaglecrest, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 28-14 loss to Legacy in their previous meeting back in November of 2023. Thankfully for the Raptors, Tyler Anderson (who rushed for 193 yards and one TD) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
