The Royse City Bulldogs will square off against the Rockwall-Heath Hawks at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Royse City is headed into Friday's match looking for a big change in momentum after dropping their third straight game on Friday. They took a 38-31 hit to the loss column at the hands of Tyler Legacy. While losing is never fun, the Bulldogs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 408th, while the Raiders are ranked 184th).
The match pitted two key players against one another: Billy Jones and Nathan Kirksey. Kirksey had a great game and made 18 total tackles. Meanwhile, Jones was balling out in the loss, making 11 total tackles (4.0 for loss) and defending a pass.
Royse City didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of John Abrama and Cordarian Powell. Powell also set a new season high mark in total tackles with six. Royse City got some further help from Jeremiah Byars: he made 15 total tackles and defended a pass.
Even though they lost, Royse City was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 274 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 177 rushing yards in five consecutive games.
Meanwhile, it was a Battle of the Birds when Rockwall-Heath took on North Forney on Friday. Rockwall-Heath fell 49-42 to North Forney. The Hawks have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Despite the loss, Rockwall-Heath had strong showings from Prosper Neal, who threw for 142 yards and three touchdowns, and Carter Zahm, who gained 127 total yards and two touchdowns. Neal's passing game has become a key predictor of Rockwall-Heath's success: the team is 2-1 when his passer rating is 110 or higher, but only 0-3 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Ashton Bradford, who gained 65 total yards and two touchdowns.
Royse City's defeat dropped their record down to 2-5. As for Rockwall-Heath, their loss dropped their record down to 2-4.
Royse City took a serious blow against Rockwall-Heath when the teams last played back in October of 2023, falling 38-3. Thankfully for Royse City, Caleb Hoover (who threw for 344 yards and three touchdowns, and also punched in two touchdowns on the ground) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
