Anaheim hasn't had much luck against Western recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Anaheim Colonists will challenge the Western Pioneers at 7:00 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: both posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Anaheim is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They breezed by Savanna at home to the tune of 53-18 on Friday. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest victory of the season.
Eduardo Guardado was a one-man wrecking crew for Anaheim as he rushed for 191 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 7.3 yards per carry. The dominant performance gave Guardado a new career-high in rushing yards. Jason Garrett was another key player, rushing for 15 yards and three touchdowns.
Anaheim's defense stepped up as well, laying out the QB seven times. Leiden Sisifo was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up three sackshimself. Those three sacks set a new season-high mark for him.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Anaheim was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 206 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Western, who bounced back after a loss on the road on September 6th. They took down Banning 53-35 last Friday. The Pioneers pushed the score to 41-21 by the end of the third, a deficit the Pilots cut but never quite recovered from.
Jj Amezcua was his usual excellent self, picking up 149 receiving yards and three touchdowns. His receiving production has been exceptional recently as that marked his third straight game with at least 149 receiving yards dating back to last season.
The win made it two in a row for Anaheim and bumps their season record up to 3-1. As for Western, they pushed their record up to 2-2 with the victory, which was their sixth straight at home dating back to last season.
The upcoming match will be a clash of competing strengths. Anaheim has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 150.2 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Western has preferred to attack from the air: they average 363.7 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Anaheim was taken down by Western 54-0 in their previous meeting back in October of 2023. Can Anaheim avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
