The Highland Hawks will challenge the Mesa Jackrabbits at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, these teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Highland fought the good fight in their overtime contest against Mountain View on Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell 41-34 to the Toros. That's two games in a row now that the Hawks have lost by exactly seven points.
The match pitted two dominant signal callers against one another in Paiden Cash Dalhaug and Brady Goodman. Goodman had a great game and rushed for 138 yards and three TDs. Meanwhile, Cash Dalhaug was balling out in the loss, throwing for 218 yards and three touchdowns.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Mesa, who bounced back after a loss on the road two weeks ago. They blew past Westwood 41-15 on Friday. The Jackrabbits might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four matchups by 20 points or more this season.
Highland better keep an eye on Boogie Anetema. He was instrumental in Mesa's win, throwing for 231 yards and three TDs while picking up 11.0 yards per attempt. Rio Arnett handled things on the ground, rushing for 101 yards and a rushing touchdown.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Mesa's defense and their four sacks. Ruben Reyes Robles refused to say out of the backfield, picking up 1.5 sacks all by himself. Another thorn in Westwood's side was Ezekiel Estep, who forced one fumble and made 12 total tackles (2.0 for loss) in addition to snagging an interception.
Mesa has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games. That's provided a nice bump to their 6-4 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 33.2 points over those games. As for Highland, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 4-6.
Everything came up roses for Highland against Mesa in their previous meeting back in August of 2015, as the squad secured a 34-7 win. Do the Hawks have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Jackrabbits turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
