The Florence Gophers will venture away from home to face off against the Coolidge Bears at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Florence has five straight victories, Coolidge has four straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Florence's defense heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Thursday. They blew past Rio Rico 43-0 at home. The matchup marked the Gophers' most dominant win of the season so far.
Logan Stenson was his usual excellent self, rushing for 94 yards and two touchdowns on only six carries, while also throwing for 138 yards and a touchdown on only 13 passes. His longest rush was for an impressive 68 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Malik Smith was another key player, rushing for 93 yards and a touchdown on only nine carries.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Florence was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 347 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in September of 2023.
Florence's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged six passes before it was all said and done. Kj Watts led the group effort, picking up three of those interceptions all by himself.
Meanwhile, Friday just wasn't the day for Coolidge's offense. They took a blow against Combs two weeks ago, falling 57-0. That makes it the first time this season the Bears have let down their home crowd.
Florence pushed their record up to 5-0 with the victory, which was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season. As for Coolidge, their loss dropped their record down to 0-4.
Florence strolled past Coolidge in their previous meeting back in September of 2023 by a score of 30-12. The rematch might be a little tougher for Florence since the team won't have the home-field 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
