Odessa is 0-9 against Midland since October of 2015 but things could change on Friday. The Odessa Bronchos will look to defend their home field against the Midland Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. Both might be coming in a bit winded given these two teams combined for 896 yards in their previous games.
Odessa is headed into the game out to prove that what happened against Permian on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Odessa came up short against Permian, falling 50-26. The contest marked the Bronchos' lowest-scoring matchup so far this season.
Despite the defeat, Odessa got top-tier performance from Mikey Cota, who threw for 243 yards and four touchdowns, and also rushed for 61 yards on only eight carries. The dominant performance gave Cota a new career-high in rushing yards. Another player making a difference was Kobi Baldonado, who picked up 107 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, after a string of four wins, Midland's good fortune finally ran out on Friday. They were just a hair shy of victory and fell 48-47 to Frenship.
Despite the loss, Midland got top-tier performance from Stroman Bridges, who rushed for 116 yards and three touchdowns on only ten carries, and also threw for 31 yards and a touchdown.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Midland was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 445 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Odessa now has a losing record at 2-3. As for Midland, their defeat dropped their record down to 4-2.
Odessa was dealt a bruising 59-28 loss at the hands of Midland when the teams last played back in October of 2023. That match was all but decided by halftime, at which point Odessa was down 42-14.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
