Two dominant signal callers in James Maes and Hawkins Flanagan are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Byers Bulldogs will venture away from home to square off against the Dayspring Christian Academy Eagles at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. One thing working in Byers' favor is that they have posted at least 31 points in their last six games.
Byers took a loss when they played away from home two weeks ago, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Friday. They breezed past St. Mary's to the tune of 56-14. Considering the Bulldogs have won six contests by more than 31 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
The match pitted two dominant signal callers against one another in Maes and Michael Trechter. Maes had a great game and threw for 165 yards and six TDs while completing 72.2% of his passes. Meanwhile, Trechter was balling out in the loss, rushing for 109 yards and one score on only ten carries, while also throwing for 243 yards and one touchdown.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Byers' defense and their three sacks. Parker Ebert refused to say out of the backfield, picking up 1.5 sacks all by himself.
Meanwhile, Dayspring Christian Academy faced Haxtun in a battle between two of the state's top teams last Saturday. The Eagles came up short against the Fightin' Bulldogs, falling 30-6. The matchup marked the Eagles' lowest-scoring game so far this season.
Byers has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 7-2 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 48.3 points over those games. As for Dayspring Christian Academy, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 6-3.
Saturday's matchup might be decided on the ground. Byers has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 203.6 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Dayspring Christian Academy struggles in that department as they've been averaging 228.1 rushing yards. There's a good chance Saturday's game turns into a tough fight on the ground.
Byers took their victory against Dayspring Christian Academy in their previous meeting back in September of 2023 by a conclusive 58-36 score. In that contest, the Bulldogs amassed a halftime lead of 44-14, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Saturday.
