The Las Vegas Wildcats will take on the Mojave Rattlers at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Las Vegas is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Nevada's top teams: Arbor View, who was ranked fifth at the time (Las Vegas was ranked 12th). The Wildcats were dealt a 57-28 loss at the hands of the Aggies on Friday. The loss was the Wildcats' first of the season.
The match pitted two dominant signal callers against one another in Tanner Vibabul and Thaddeus Thatcher. Thatcher had a great game and threw for 307 yards and four touchdowns while completing 84.2% of his passes. Meanwhile, Vibabul was balling out in the loss, rushing for 114 yards and one TD on only six carries, while also throwing for 127 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Mojave got the win against Palo Verde on Friday by a conclusive 34-10. The Rattlers might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four contests by 24 points or more this season.
Mojave's win came from a few key players Las Vegas will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was S'Marion Coleman, who picked up 113 receiving yards and one score, and also rushed for 97 yards and one TD. He got the majority of those receiving yards when he pulled down a pass and took off for a gain of 92 yards. Francisco Reinares was another key player, rushing for 155 yards and one score on only eight carries.
Mojave's run defense was locked in: Palo Verde could only muster 3.2 yards per carry. The team can thank Demier Zamora for the heroic effort on defense: he. Mojave didn't have any issues in that department, having averaged 13.9.
Mojave didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Elijah Richard and Demico Zamora. Zamora is becoming a predictor of Mojave's success: when he posts at least one interception the team is 2-1 (and 3-4 when he doesn't). Another thorn in Palo Verde's side was Jray Vele, who made ten total tackles (5.0 for loss).
Mojave pushed their record up to 5-5 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. Those home wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 40.7 points over those games. As for Las Vegas, their defeat was their first of the season and makes their record 9-1.
Everything came up roses for Las Vegas against Mojave in their previous meeting back in September of 2022, as the team secured a 44-6 victory. Will the Wildcats repeat their success, or do the Rattlers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
