The Skyline Coyotes will head out to square off against the ALA - Gilbert North Eagles at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Skyline is headed into the matchup after thoroughly thrashing North Canyon: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Skyline blew North Canyon out of the water with a 56-12 final score. The Coyotes pushed the score to 49-12 by the end of the third, a deficit the Rattlers had no chance of recovering from.
It was another big night for Jake Ryne Goins, who rushed for 85 yards and three touchdowns on only 11 carries, and also threw for 254 yards and a touchdown while picking up 11.5 yards per attempt. Zavier Flores did his part to keep the secondary busy, picking up 174 receiving yards.
Skyline's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Noah Sasser and Shawn Saxon.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask ALA - Gilbert North). They simply couldn't be stopped on Friday as they easily beat Paradise Valley 56-7 on the road. Given the Eagles' advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona football rankings (they are ranked 30th, while the Trojans are ranked 126th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Conner White and Kody Thorley were among the main playmakers for ALA - Gilbert North as the former rushed for 75 yards and a touchdown on only five carries and the latter rushed for 138 yards and a touchdown on only nine carries. Thorley didn't just play on offense: he also made four total tackles and defended a pass.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, ALA - Gilbert North was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 389 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted was before the start of last season.
The win got Skyline back to even at 2-2. As for ALA - Gilbert North, their victory bumped their record up to 3-1.
Friday's contest might be decided in the on the ground. Skyline has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 161.2 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like ALA - Gilbert North struggles in that department as they've been averaging 156.5. It's looking like Friday's match might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Skyline might still be hurting after the 42-20 defeat they got from ALA - Gilbert North when the teams last played back in September of 2023. Can Skyline avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
