After each having a week off, the Lake Belton Broncos and the Rouse Raiders will shake off the cobwebs and square off against one another at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Lake Belton will be strutting in after a win while Rouse will be coming in after a loss.
Two weeks ago, Lake Belton was able to grind out a solid victory over Killeen, taking the game 49-42. Given the Broncos' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 140th, while the Kangaroos are ranked 513th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Lake Belton's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Eli Mascarenas, who threw for 214 yards and three touchdowns on only 12 passes, and Zyien Dupree, who rushed for 183 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 8.3 yards per carry. Mascarenas' longest rush was for an impressive 56 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Davion Peters also helped with two touchdowns in total.
Lake Belton's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged four passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Xavier Wells and Adam Constancio. Constancio is also crushing it when it comes to total tackles: he's made at least six every time he's taken the field this season. Garrett Roland was another major factor on D, picking up two sacks, making ten total tackles, and making ten total tackles.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Lake Belton was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 325 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted was before the start of last season.
Meanwhile, after soaring to 38 points the game before, Rouse was a bit more limited in their match last Friday. They took a 17-6 hit to the loss column at the hands of Midway. Despite 59 more yards than the Panthers, the Raiders couldn't convert that extra yardage to scores.
Rouse's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Leland Smit, who picked up 78 receiving yards and a touchdown, and Aubryn Davis, who rushed for 56 yards. What's more, Smit also racked up 19 rushing yards, the mosthe's had since back in October of 2023.
The win made it two in a row for Lake Belton and bumps their season record up to 2-1. As for Rouse, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 1-2.
The upcoming matchup will be a clash of competing strengths. Lake Belton has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 200 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Rouse has preferred to attack from the air: they average 302.7 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Lake Belton took their victory against Rouse in their previous matchup back in August of 2023 by a conclusive 34-10. In that game, Lake Belton amassed a halftime lead of 34-10, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
