The Gregory-Portland Wildcats will face off against the Victoria West Warriors at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Gregory-Portland is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They claimed a resounding 63-14 win over King. With the Wildcats ahead 35-0 at the half, the matchup was all but over already.
Johnny Long had a dynamite game for Gregory-Portland, rushing for 93 yards and three touchdowns on only 11 carries. The dominant performance gave Long a new career-high in rushing yards. Another player making a difference was Carter Dominguez, who rushed for 66 yards and two touchdowns on only seven carries.
Gregory-Portland didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. It was truly a group effort as Ricardo Salinas, Ethan Tovar, and Camren Garcia picked up one apiece. Salinas also made eight total tackles, which is notable because Gregory-Portland is undefeated when he posts at least four total tackles, but 2-5 otherwise.
Gregory-Portland was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 362 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, everything came up roses for Victoria West against Veterans Memorial on Friday as the team secured a 54-21 victory. Given the Warriors' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 288th, while the Patriots are ranked 627th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
A big part of Victoria West's win came down to the chemistry between Dominick Martinez and his top target Tristan Bernard. Martinez threw for 316 yards and three touchdowns while completing 73% of his passes while Bernard gained 183 total yards and two touchdowns. The team also got some help courtesy of Jenesis Jeffries, who rushed for 72 yards and two touchdowns.
Gregory-Portland is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a massive bump to their 5-5 record this season. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 35.8 points. As for Victoria West, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 8-2.
Friday's contest might be decided in the on the ground. Gregory-Portland has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 247.6 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Victoria West struggles in that department as they've been averaging 174.9. It's looking like Friday's game might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Everything went Gregory-Portland's way against Victoria West when the teams last played back in October of 2021, as Gregory-Portland made off with a 52-27 win. Does Gregory-Portland have another victory up their sleeve, or will Victoria West turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
