The Airline Vikings will head out on the road to challenge the Byrd Yellow Jackets at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Airline's favor is that they have posted at least 31 points every time they've taken the field this season.
Airline is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They put the hurt on Natchitoches Central with a sharp 76-52 victory on Friday. Considering the Vikings have won five matchups by more than 22 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Ben Taylor was his usual excellent self, throwing for 460 yards and six touchdowns while completing 82.4% of his passes, and also punching in two touchdowns on the ground. He is on a roll when it comes to passing touchdowns, as he's now passed for four or more in the last six games he's played. Kenny Darby was Taylor's top target, picking up 202 receiving yards and four touchdowns.
Airline was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 224 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since the start of last season.
Meanwhile, Byrd had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 7 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. They took down the Tigers 37-21. Given the Yellow Jackets' advantage in MaxPreps' Louisiana football rankings (they are ranked 35th, while the Tigers are ranked 125th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Airline's win was their sixth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 8-0. As for Byrd, their victory bumped their record up to 7-1.
Airline strolled past Byrd in their previous matchup back in October of 2023 by a score of 42-28. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Byrd's Desmond Simmons, who rushed for 205 yards while picking up 7.3 yards per carry. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Airline still be able to contain Simmons? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
