The Centennial Hawks will face off against the Rio Rancho Rams at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. Centennial is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 5.4 goals per game this season.
Centennial is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Wednesday. They narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Gadsden 2-1. The victory was familiar territory for Centennial, who have now won three matches in a row.
Diego Valenzuela and Tyler Ward scored both of Centennial's goals, bringing their combined season tally to 11 goals.
Meanwhile, Rio Rancho faced Cleveland in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Saturday. Neither the Rams nor the Storm could gain the upper hand so the two teams had to settle for a 0-0 draw. Both teams had to tread carefully at times as the refs weren't afraid to hand out yellow cards: Micah Brichford was handed one for Rio Rancho, while Cleveland got theirs courtesy of Dakota Jones.
Rio Rancho's draw gives them a new season record of 13-4-2. As for Centennial, their win bumped their record up to 14-5-2.
Centennial took their victory against Rio Rancho in their previous meeting back in August of 2023 by a conclusive 3-0 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Hawks since the squad won't have the home-pitch advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
