Payson is 0-4 against Round Valley since September of 2016 but things could change on Thursday. The Payson Longhorns will host the Round Valley Elks at 7:00 p.m. The two teams are strolling into their matches after big wins in their previous games.
Last Friday, Payson humbled Chino Valley with a 46-6 victory. The result was nothing new for the Longhorns, who have now won four games by 25 points or more so far this season.
Nolan Keeney went supernova for Payson, throwing for 195 yards and four touchdowns.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Payson's defense and their five sacks. Brayden Lee was especially locked on to Chino Valley's QB and sacked him twice. Lee also set a new season high mark in total tackles with seven. Payson got some further help from Jonny McAnerny: he picked up a sack and made 15 total tackles (3.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Round Valley). Everything went their way against Show Low on Thursday as Round Valley made off with a 41-15 victory. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Elks.
Round Valley found their leader in underclassman Kage Finch, who threw for 279 yards and four touchdowns while completing 76% of his passes, and also rushed for 49 yards. Another player making a difference was Connor Lueker, who gained 92 total yards and two touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Round Valley was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 258 rushing yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Show Low only rushed for 151.
Round Valley's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged four passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Lueker and Jeffrey Cochran.
Payson pushed their record up to 5-1 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. As for Round Valley, they now have a winning record of 3-2.
Payson came up short against Round Valley when the teams last played back in September of 2023, falling 7-3. Will Payson have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other football content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
