Two dominant backs in Jayden Macias and Ryan Estrada are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Parkland Matadors will venture away from home to face off against the El Dorado Aztecs at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.
Parkland is coming into the game on the come-up as their season has now been buoyed by two straight victories. They blew past Bel Air 48-14 on Friday.
It was another big night for Macias, who rushed for 162 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 8.1 yards per carry, and also caught a touchdown. That's the most rushing yards he has posted since back in September.
Parkland was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 240 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 230 rushing yards in nine consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, El Dorado put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They breezed by Americas to the tune of 57-20. The result was nothing new for the Aztecs, who have now won eight matchups by 21 points or more so far this season.
El Dorado relied on the efforts of Estrada, who rushed for 238 yards and three touchdowns on only 12 carries, and Elijah Issa, who threw for 153 yards and four touchdowns while completing 71.4% of his passes. Estrada's rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his fourth straight game with at least 203 rushing yards. Jadarius Sanders did his part for the team as well, scoring a TD off of 75 receiving yards.
Parkland has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 3-6 record this season. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 42.3 points per game. As for El Dorado, their win was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 9-0.
Thursday's game might be decided in the on the ground. Parkland has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 282.1 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like El Dorado struggles in that department as they've been averaging 346. It's looking like Thursday's match might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Parkland took a serious blow against El Dorado when the teams last played back in October, falling 77-36. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Estrada, who rushed for 291 yards and six touchdowns while picking up 10.8 yards per carry. Now that Parkland knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
