The United South Panthers will take on the Harlingen Cardinals at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Last Friday, United South and Los Fresnos were almost perfectly matched up, but United South suffered a 34-33 loss. The Panthers gained 88 more yards on the day, but it was the Falcons that made the best use of them.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Jonathan Tello, who picked up 199 receiving yards and three touchdowns. He torched the secondary when he pulled down a catch that went for 84 yards. Rolando Gonzalez was another key signal caller, throwing for 353 yards and three touchdowns while completing 71.4% of his passes.
Meanwhile, Harlingen lost to Vela at home by a 34-16 margin on Friday. The loss was the Cardinals' first of the season.
Despite the defeat, Harlingen got top-tier performance from Noah Huerta, who rushed for 197 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 9.9 yards per carry. Huerta's rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his third straight game with at least 141 rushing yards dating back to last season.
Even though they lost, Harlingen was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 214 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 214 rushing yards in three consecutive matchups.
United South now has a losing record at 1-2. As for Harlingen, their loss ended a five-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 2-1.
Friday's match might be decided in the trenches. United South has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 162.7 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Harlingen struggles in that department as they've been averaging 232.7. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
United South came up short against Harlingen in their previous matchup back in September of 2023, falling 23-14. Thankfully for United South, Randy Morales (who rushed for 116 yards and a touchdown on only 12 carries) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
