The Plateau Valley Cowboys will face off against the Hayden Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Plateau Valley is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Colorado's top teams: West Grand, who was ranked 12th in their home state at the time (Plateau Valley was ranked 17th). Plateau Valley fell just short of West Grand by a score of 38-36 on Friday. The matchup was a 16-16 toss-up at halftime, but the Cowboys couldn't quite close it out.
Plateau Valley's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged three passes before it was all said and done. It was truly a group effort as Austin Grundy, Hunter White, and Colter Ralston picked up one apiece. Grundy also set a new season high mark in total tackles with 13.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Hayden). They simply couldn't be stopped on Friday as they easily beat Lake County 60-6 on the road.
Hayden found their leader in underclassman Peyton Johnson, who rushed for 184 yards and two touchdowns on only ten carries, and also threw for 45 yards and a touchdown. Johnson didn't just play on offense: he also forced a fumble and made a tackle. Another player making a difference was Carson Campbell, who rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns.
Hayden wouldn't let Lake County keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Hayden can thank Brody Frentress and Johnson for forcing both of them. Frentress has been hot recently, having also posted five or more total tackles the last three times he's played.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Hayden was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 359 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
The loss snapped Plateau Valley's winning streak at three games and leaves them with a 3-2 record. As for Hayden, the win got them back to even at 2-2.
Plateau Valley couldn't quite finish off Hayden when the teams last played back in August of 2023 and fell 16-14. Will Plateau Valley have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other football content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
