Valley Center is 10-0 against Escondido since October of 2014, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. A feisty cat fight will be fought when Jaguars takes on the Escondido Cougars at 7:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Valley Center's defense heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They blew past Vista, posting a 56-0 victory at home. That 56 point margin sets a new team best for the Jaguars this season.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Valley Center to victory, but perhaps none more so than Braylon Mitchell, who threw for 208 yards and three touchdowns while completing 90% of his passes. What's more, Mitchell also racked up five rushing yards, the mosthe's had since back in October of 2023. Bear Morales was another key back, rushing for 71 yards and three touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Escondido was fully in charge on Friday, breezing past Escondido Charter 40-0 at home. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 297th, while the White Tigers are ranked 827th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
A big part of Escondido's win came down to the chemistry between Caden Thompson and his top target Josh Gonzales. Thompson threw for 328 yards and six touchdowns while completing 74.1% of his passes while Gonzales picked up 206 receiving yards and five touchdowns. With that strong performance, Gonzales is now averaging an impressive 116 receiving yards per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Ezekiel McIntyre, who picked up 91 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Escondido didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. In fact, those interceptions all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Zane Villanueva.
Valley Center has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 5-2 record this season. As for Escondido, their victory ended a five-game drought at home dating back to last season and bumped them up to 4-2.
Friday's game might be decided in the on the ground. Valley Center has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 150 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Escondido struggles in that department as they've been averaging 164. It's looking like Friday's match might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Valley Center strolled past Escondido in their previous meeting back in October of 2023 by a score of 28-13. Does Valley Center have another victory up their sleeve, or will Escondido turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
