Two dominant signal callers in Jaxon Hunt and BOSTEN FOUNTAINE are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Mountain Ridge Sentinels will welcome the Westlake Thunder at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Mountain Ridge sitting on six straight victories and Westlake on three.
Mountain Ridge will bounce into Friday's contest after beating Bingham, who they had gone 0-4 against in their four prior meetings. The Sentinels blew past the Miners 35-6 on Friday. The Sentinels might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won five matchups by 22 points or more this season.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Mountain Ridge to victory, but perhaps none more so than Kohen Cunningham, who picked up 165 receiving yards and two scores. Cunningham really caught the secondary sleeping when he pulled down a catch that went for 98 yards. Another rusher making a difference was Ashton Gates, who rushed for 76 yards and one TD.
Another reason for the win was Mountain Ridge's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for four sacks. The team can thank three different players for their defensive prowess: Bridger Butterfield, Tytan Dejong, and Sefa Toki, who each picked up one sack apiece. Butterfield was another major factor on D, picking up a sack, making 15 total tackles (2.0 for loss), and defending one pass.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Westlake). They took down Cedar Valley 56-41 on Friday.
Mountain Ridge better keep an eye on MALIK SIKA. He was instrumental in Westlake's win, picking up 161 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns. That's the most receiving yards SIKA has posted since back in August.
Westlake's win bumped their record up to 7-2. As for Mountain Ridge, their victory bumped their record up to an identical 7-2.
We should be in store for an exciting game as the two teams have no problem gaining yardage. Mountain Ridge has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 438.7 total yards per game. However, it's not like Westlake struggles in that department as they've been averaging 388.8 total yards. With a pair of commanding offenses duking it out, the defenses are going to have their work cut out for them.
Mountain Ridge came out on top in a nail-biter against Westlake when the teams last played back in October of 2022, sneaking past 28-25. Will the Sentinels repeat their success, or do the Thunder have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
