The Sandy Valley Sidewinders will head out on the road to face off against the Tonopah Muckers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Sandy Valley is ranked highly in their home state, and on Thursday they took on another highly ranked team in the form of Beaver Dam. Everything went Sandy Valley's way against Beaver Dam as Sandy Valley made off with a 40-16 win. The win was just what Sandy Valley needed coming off of a 42-0 defeat in their prior game.
Sandy Valley's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Deivi Pedraza, who rushed for 64 yards and two touchdowns on only seven carries. Sandy Valley also got a significant boost from Tage Colon, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 85 yards.
Meanwhile, Tonopah entered their tilt with Round Mountain with three consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with four. Tonopah breezed by Round Mountain on the road to the tune of 62-24. 62 seems to be a good number for Tonopah as the team scooped up a victory with the same number of points in their previous game.
Tonopah can attribute much of their success to Dustin Otteson, who gained 164 total yards and five touchdowns, and Drew Otteson, who threw for 257 yards and five touchdowns while completing 72.2% of his passes. Otteson hasn't dropped below three passing touchdowns for four straight games. Another player making a difference was Thomas Newell, who picked up 146 receiving yards and a touchdown.
The team's defense also helped out by holding Round Mountain to a paltry 176 yards. A big part of that defensive dominance came down to Tonopah's ability to keep the quarterback under pressure: the team laid him out six times before it was all said and done. Leading the way was Otteson and his three sacks.
Their wins bumped Sandy Valley to 6-3 and Tonopah to 7-2.
Sandy Valley was dealt a bruising 69-28 loss at the hands of Tonopah in their previous meeting back in October of 2016. Can Sandy Valley avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
