Cortez has enjoyed the comforts of home their last five games, but now they'll head out on the road. They will venture away from home to face off against the Phoenix Christian Cougars at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams might be coming in a bit winded given these two teams combined for 873 yards in their previous games.
Cortez is headed into the match out to prove that what happened against Camp Verde on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Cortez took a blow against Camp Verde, falling 65-34. The Colts have struggled against the Cowboys recently, as their game on Friday was their third consecutive lost matchup.
Despite the loss, Cortez had strong showings from Jamerrius Anthony, who rushed for 110 yards and two touchdowns, and Michael Anthony, who rushed for 200 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 10.0 yards per carry. Michael's longest rush was for an incredible 77 yards.
Even though they lost, Cortez was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 342 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in October of 2023.
Cortez wouldn't let Camp Verde keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Cortez can thank Julian Cabrera and Anthony for forcing both of them. The dominant performance gave Anthony a new career-high in rushing yards.
Meanwhile, Phoenix Christian came tearing into last Friday's matchup with three straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 61 points) and they left with even more momentum. They came out on top against the Cowboys by a score of 20-13.
Cashis Grimwade had an outrageously good game as he picked up 111 receiving yards and two touchdowns. He didn't just play on offense: he also forced a fumble and made two total tackles in addition to snagging two interceptions. Phoenix Christian also got a significant boost from Kevin Palafox, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 96 yards.
Phoenix Christian didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. In fact, those interceptions all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Grimwade.
Cortez now has a losing record at 3-4. As for Phoenix Christian, they pushed their record up to 6-1 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road.
Friday's contest will pit two of the most dominant backs against one another: Anthony and Palafox. Anthony has put up some stellar numbers this year, and currently owns excellent season averages 96 rushing yards per game this season. For his part, Palafox has averaged 92.7 rushing yards per game this season.
Cortez was dealt a bruising 42-7 defeat at the hands of Phoenix Christian when the teams last played back in October of 2023. Thankfully for Cortez, Javien Willis (who rushed for 126 yards and three touchdowns on only 13 carries) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
