The Widefield Gladiators are taking a road trip to take on the Mesa Ridge Grizzlies at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Widefield will head into Friday's game on the come-up: they were handed a 32-point defeat in their previous outing, but that didn't affect their clutch gene last Friday. They skirted past Coronado 47-44.
Amari Taylor was the offensive standout of the contest as he went 6 for 14 en route to 17 points and three steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Javon Johnson, who posted ten points and three steals.
Meanwhile, Mesa Ridge waltzed into their match on Friday with 11 straight wins... but they left with 12. They came out on top against the Cougars by a score of 55-42. The Grizzlies pushed the score to 44-24 by the end of the third, a deficit the Cougars cut but never quite recovered from.
Mesa Ridge's win came from a few key players Widefield will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Jaxon Auger, who put up 13 points and six rebounds. He is trending in the right direction considering he's improved his point production for three straight games. Another player making a difference was Bryce Riehl, who had 11 points and four steals.
Mesa Ridge's win was their 12th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 12-1. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.7 points per game. As for Widefield, their record now sits at 6-7.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Widefield has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 28.4 boards per game. However, it's not like Mesa Ridge struggles in that department as they've been averaging 27.8 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Widefield ended up a good deal behind Mesa Ridge when the teams last played back in February of 2024, losing 68-49. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Riehl, who went 7 of 16 on his way to 21 points in addition to eight boards and six steals. Now that Widefield knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
