After two games on the road, Rouse is heading back home. After each having a week off, they and the Lake Belton Broncos will dust off their jerseys to square off against one another at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Rouse is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 38 points on September 6th, they were much more limited against Midway last Friday. They took a 17-6 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Panthers. The Raiders gained 59 more yards on the day, but it was the Panthers that made the best use of them.
Despite the defeat, Rouse had strong showings from Leland Smit, who picked up 78 receiving yards and a touchdown, and Aubryn Davis, who rushed for 56 yards. What's more, Smit also racked up 19 rushing yards, the mosthe's had since back in October of 2023.
Meanwhile, Lake Belton beat Killeen 49-42 two weeks ago. Given the Broncos' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 140th, while the Kangaroos are ranked 513th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Lake Belton can attribute much of their success to Eli Mascarenas, who threw for 214 yards and three touchdowns on only 12 passes, and Zyien Dupree, who rushed for 183 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 8.3 yards per carry. Mascarenas' longest rush was for an impressive 56 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Zach Dodd was Mascarenas' top target, picking up 109 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Lake Belton's defensive line stepped up as well, laying out the QB ten times. Zion Williams led the group effort, picking up three of those sacks all by himself. He is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made five or more in the last three games he's played dating back to last season. Xavier Wells was another major factor on D, making five total tackles and snagged three interceptions.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Lake Belton was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 325 rushing yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Killeen only rushed for 208.
Rouse now has a losing record at 1-2. As for Lake Belton, they now have a winning record of 2-1.
The upcoming contest will be a clash of competing strengths. Rouse has relied on air attacks this season and has averaged 302.7 passing yards per game. Lake Belton, on the other hand, has relied on a stout run game: they average 200 rushing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Rouse might still be hurting after the 34-10 loss they got from Lake Belton in their previous meeting back in August of 2023. That match was all but decided by halftime, at which point Rouse was down 34-10.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
