The Mountainside Wolves are taking a road trip to face off against the Cortez Colts at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Mountainside will head out to face Cortez after giving up their first home loss of the season on Friday. Mountainside took a 26-21 hit to the loss column at the hands of Glendale Prep Academy. The Wolves have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Despite the defeat, Mountainside got top-tier performance from Daniel Gregg, who rushed for 136 yards and a touchdown while picking up 8.5 yards per carry, and also threw for 89 yards and a touchdown. That's the most rushing yards Gregg has posted since back in September of 2023.
Mountainside's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. In fact, those interceptions all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Tyler Fry.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Cortez). They really took it to Highland Prep for the full four quarters, racking up a 43-12 win at home. The high-flying offensive performance was a huge turnaround for the Colts considering their six-point performance the matchup before.
Cortez's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Michael Anthony, who rushed for 150 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries, and Jamerrius Anthony, who rushed for 138 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 8.6 yards per carry. Michael's longest rush was for an impressive 56 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Julian Cabrera got in on the action as well, converting a pick into a touchdown.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Cortez was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 308 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
One reason for the win was Cortez's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for three sacks. In that department, Martin Barreras was the leader with two.
Mountainside's loss dropped their record down to 4-2. As for Cortez, their victory bumped their record up to 2-3.
Friday's game might be decided in the on the ground. Mountainside has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 151 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Cortez struggles in that department as they've been averaging 169.4. It's looking like Friday's match might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Mountainside was taken down by Cortez 42-0 in their previous matchup back in September of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Anthony, who rushed for 127 yards and a touchdown on only six carries. Now that Mountainside knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
