Two dominant backs in Blake Zanger and Michael Murphy are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Leigh Longhorns will look to defend their home field on Friday against the Branham Bruins at 7:15 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
On Friday, Leigh needed a bit of extra time to put away Live Oak. They walked away with a 35-28 win over the Acorns. The victory was some much needed relief for the Longhorns as it spelled an end to their three-game losing streak.
The match pitted two dominant backs against one another in Zanger and Gage Jones. Zanger had a great game and gained 271 total yards and three touchdowns. Meanwhile, Jones was balling out in the loss, rushing for 251 yards and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Branham came up short against Santa Teresa on Friday and fell 59-49. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game two weeks ago (46), the Bruins still had to take the loss.
Despite the defeat, Branham saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Murphy rushed for 260 yards and three scores while picking up 8.4 yards per carry. The team also got some help courtesy of Brayden Hodges, who picked up 98 receiving yards and one TD.
Branham has traveled a rocky road recently, having lost three of their last four contests. That's put a noticeable dent in their 5-4 record this season. Those losses can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 36.5 points over those games. As for Leigh, their win was their first in the league, bumping their league record up to 1-3 and their overall record up to 5-4.
Leigh was dealt a bruising 42-13 defeat at the hands of Branham in their previous meeting back in November of 2024. Thankfully for the Longhorns, Jack Lewis (who threw for 231 yards and four touchdowns) 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
