Santa Maria is 1-7 against La Villa since November of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Santa Maria Cougars are on the road again and play against the La Villa Cardinals at 7:30 p.m. on October 20th. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
After only seven points in their last match, Santa Maria made sure to put some points up on the board against Kaufer on Friday. Santa Maria blew past Kaufer, posting a 55-0 victory on the road. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as Santa Maria just coasted through the last quarter.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Santa Maria to victory, but perhaps none more so than Daniel Martinez, who rushed for 100 yards and three touchdowns on only nine carries. Esiah Gracia also deserves a shout-out for his two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, La Villa had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 36 points), and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They enjoyed a cozy 20-2 win over Ben Bolt.
Rey Perez went supernova for La Villa, rushing for 148 yards and a touchdown on only five carries, while also picking up 71 receiving yards. Perez was no stranger to the big play, turning on the jets for a run that went for 60 yards.
Santa Maria is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 5-2 record this season. As for La Villa, their win on Friday also bumped their record up to an identical 5-2.
Friday's game might be decided on the ground as these two are both standouts in the run game. Santa Maria has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 187.7 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like La Villa struggles in that department as they've been averaging 165.7 per game. It's looking like Friday's game might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Santa Maria and La Villa were neck-and-neck when the teams last played back in October of 2022, but Santa Maria came up empty-handed after a 36-35 loss. Thankfully for Santa Maria, Luke Serna (who picked up 119 receiving yards and two 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.
