The Salpointe Catholic Lancers will take on the Queen Creek Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Salpointe Catholic is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Arizona's top teams: Pinnacle, who was ranked eighth at the time (Salpointe Catholic was ranked 23rd). The Lancers took a 28-21 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Pioneers on Friday. The Lancers have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Salpointe Catholic's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Chris Chaney, who gained 106 total yards and two touchdowns, and Rayce Alvarez, who threw for 248 yards and one touchdown.
Meanwhile, Queen Creek's game on Friday was all tied up 7-7 at the half, but luckily for them it didn't stay that way. They came out on top against Red Mountain by a score of 30-22. The victory continues a trend for the Bulldogs in their matchups with the Mountain Lions: they've now won three in a row.
The critical scores for Queen Creek came from David Rosson, Yanniv Djassa, Bear Fisher, and Kayden Kellogg.
Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something Queen Creek proved: they limited Red Mountain to a paltry 1.5 yards per carry. While three picked up at least nine total tackles, Rj Jackson stood above the rest. He picked up a sack and made nine total tackles (3.0 for loss). Sadly, that's becoming something of a trend for Queen Creek; they were averaging 4.8yards per carry per game earlier this season, but in their last three matchups they've fallen to only 4.4 per game.
Queen Creek's defense didn't let Dominic Carmigiano, get away unscathed either: they got into the backfield for five sacks. Lachlan Geier was especially locked on to Red Mountain's QB and sacked him twice. Queen Creek received some extra help from Fisher, whose fumble return for a touchdown made for one of the most unforgettable moments.
Queen Creek's win bumped their record up to 6-4. As for Salpointe Catholic, their loss dropped their record down to 5-5.
Salpointe Catholic came up short against Queen Creek when the teams last played back in November of 2022, falling 12-6. Thankfully for the Lancers, Diego Morales (who rushed for 201 yards and one score while picking up 8.0 yards per carry) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
