After each having a week off, the Bangs Dragons and the Ballinger Bearcats will dust off their jerseys to challenge one another at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Last Friday, Bangs was just a hair shy of victory and fell 37-36 to Colorado. While the Dragons had to settle for second, they closed the game well in the third quarter, where they outscored the Wolves 6-0.
Despite the defeat, Bangs saw an underclassman step up: Brayden Gatlin rushed for 102 yards and three touchdowns. Those 102 rushing yards gave Gatlin a new career-high. Aden Jones was another key player, rushing for 62 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries.
Meanwhile, Ballinger was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap last Friday as they fell 25-21 to Stanton. The Bearcats have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Bryce Lopez, who picked up 170 receiving yards and a touchdown. The team also got some help courtesy of Aiden Pena, who rushed for 96 yards and two touchdowns.
Ballinger wouldn't let Stanton keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Ballinger can thank Hunter Kresta and Cade Strube for forcing both of them.
Bangs now has a losing record at 2-3. As for Ballinger, their loss dropped their record down to 3-2.
Bangs was taken down by Ballinger 46-3 in their previous matchup back in October of 2021. That game was all but decided by halftime, at which point Bangs was down 26-3.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
