The Espanola Valley Sundevils will take on the Manzano Monarchs at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Espanola Valley will be strutting in after a victory while Manzano will be coming in after a loss.
Espanola Valley took a loss when they played away from home two weeks ago, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed last Friday. They put the hurt on Aztec with a sharp 31-7 win. The Sundevils might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won three games by 20 points or more this season.
Espanola Valley can attribute much of their success to Michael Maestas, who rushed for 98 yards and a touchdown on only nine carries. The dominant performance gave Maestas a new career-high in rushing yards.
Espanola Valley wouldn't let Aztec keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Espanola Valley can thank Andres Valenzuela and Maestas for forcing both of them. Anthony Mendoza was another major factor on D, making 14 total tackles (3.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, Manzano was not able to break out of their rough patch last Thursday as the team picked up their fourth straight defeat. They fell 16-7 to St. Pius X. The contest marked the Monarchs' lowest-scoring matchup so far this season.
Manzano didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Demaris Bell and Aiden Erickson. Erickson also posted 148 receiving yards, which is notable because Manzano is 4-2 when he posts at least 80 receiving yards, but 1-3 otherwise. Another thorn in St. Pius X's side was Isaac Placencia, who forced a fumble and made six total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Espanola Valley's victory bumped their record up to 7-3. As for Manzano, their loss ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 5-5.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
