Artesia has enjoyed a four-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will venture away from home to square off against the Estancia Eagles at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Last Friday, Artesia was fully in charge, breezing past Mountain View 41-7 at home.
Artesia got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Charlie Lopez out in front who threw for 144 yards and two touchdowns on only six passes, and also rushed for 54 yards. Lopez's longest rush was for an impressive 54 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Julius Padilla did his part to keep the secondary busy, picking up 107 receiving yards.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Artesia was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 298 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Estancia). Their defense stepped up to hand Santiago a 38-0 shutout on Friday. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest victory of the season.
Jeff Brown continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 282 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 10.1 yards per carry. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in rushing yards.
Estancia's defense stepped up as well, laying out James Gonzalez. four times. The heavy lifting was done by Steve Sanchez and Roy Brown, who racked up all four sacks between them. Sanchez is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made six or more in the last four games he's played dating back to last season.
Artesia's win was their sixth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 5-0. As for Estancia, their record now sits at 3-1.
Friday's match might be decided in the on the ground. Artesia has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 242.8 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Estancia struggles in that department as they've been averaging 237.2. It's looking like Friday's game might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Artesia was taken down by Estancia 43-0 when the teams last played back in September of 2021. Thankfully for Artesia, Cameron Knickerbocker (who threw for 197 yards and two touchdowns while completing 85.7% of his passes, and also rushed for 72 yards) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
