The Matoaca Warriors will head out on the road to take on the Massaponax Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Matoaca will be strutting in after a win while Massaponax will be coming in after a loss.
Matoaca's defense heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They beat Henrico by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 35-0. Given Matoaca's advantage in MaxPreps' Virginia football rankings (they are ranked ninth, while Henrico is ranked 134th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Matoaca relied on the efforts of Bryce Yates, who threw for 183 yards and two touchdowns on only 17 passes, and Trevion Mills, who rushed for 165 yards and a touchdown while picking up 7.9 yards per carry. Yates' longest rush was for an impressive 54 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Dillon Newton-Short also helped out with an impressive 112 receiving yards.
Matoaca's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Caljuan Tucker and Demarcus Sharper.
Meanwhile, Massaponax lost to Louisa County on the road by a 49-34 margin on Friday. The Panthers have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Despite the defeat, Massaponax got top-tier performance from Gabriel Newby-Morris, who rushed for 66 yards and two touchdowns on only five carries, and also picked up 34 receiving yards and a touchdown.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Massaponax was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 274 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 154 rushing yards in three consecutive matchups.
The victory made it two in a row for Matoaca and bumps their season record up to 2-0. As for Massaponax, they now have a losing record at 1-2.
Matoaca beat Massaponax 40-27 in their previous matchup back in September of 2023. The rematch might be a little tougher for Matoaca since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
