The Pioneer Diamondbacks will head out on the road to face off against the Sharyland Rattlers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Pioneer's favor is that they have now posted big point totals in their last seven matchups.
Pioneer can now show off four landslide victories after their most recent game on Friday. They blew past Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Southwest 44-21. Given Pioneer's advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 529th, while Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Southwest is ranked 1096th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Julian Valdez and Dylan Tijerina were among the main playmakers for Pioneer as the former rushed for 60 yards and a touchdown and the latter rushed for 115 yards and three touchdowns on only 14 carries. Tijerina hasn't dropped below two rushing touchdowns for three straight games. Leo Espinoza Jr. also helped out with an impressive 94 receiving yards.
Meanwhile, Sharyland's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Friday after their third straight loss. They ended up on the wrong side of a rough 30-8 walloping at the hands of Mission Veterans Memorial.
Pioneer's victory bumped their season record to 7-1 while Sharyland's loss dropped theirs to 3-5.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's matchup: Pioneer has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 180.4 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for Sharyland, though, as they've been averaging only 71.8 per game. How will Sharyland fare against such a dominant running game?
Pioneer came up short against Sharyland in their previous matchup back in October of 2022, falling 35-22. Can Pioneer avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
