Two dominant backs in Sal Duarte and Angel Veliz are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. A feisty cat fight will be fought when Panthers faces off against the Clint Lions at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Austin will be hoping to continue their three-game streak of scoring more points each match than the last.
Austin is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They blew past Fabens, posting a 42-14 victory on the road. With that win, the Panthers brought their scoring average up to 27.4 points per game.
Austin found their leader in underclassman Duarte, who rushed for 153 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries. Duarte's longest rush was for an impressive 54 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. The team also got some help courtesy of Alexis Vazquez, who threw for 162 yards and three touchdowns while completing 83.3% of his passes.
Austin wouldn't let Fabens keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Austin can thank Vazquez and Francisco Hernandez for forcing both of them. Hernandez also set a new season high mark in total tackles with four.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Austin was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 262 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 166 rushing yards in five consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Clint was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Friday as they fell 27-21 to Mountain View.
Despite the defeat, Clint got top-tier performance from Veliz, who rushed for 112 yards and two touchdowns. Veliz is on a roll when it comes to rushing touchdowns, as he's now punched in two or more in the last three games he's played dating back to last season.
Even if they lost, Clint's defense still kept up the pressure with six sacks. Andres Retana was especially locked on to Mountain View's QB and sacked him twice.
Austin pushed their record up to 4-1 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road dating back to last season. As for Clint, their loss dropped their record down to 2-4.
Friday's matchup might be decided in the on the ground. Austin has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 285.4 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Clint struggles in that department as they've been averaging 292. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Austin was able to grind out a solid win over Clint when the teams last played back in September of 2019, winning 20-7. Does Austin have another victory up their sleeve, or will Clint turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
