After each having a week off, the Montgomery Bears and the Dayton Broncos will dust off their jerseys to challenge one another at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Dayton is hoping to do what Elgin couldn't two weeks ago: put an end to Montgomery's winning streak (dating back to last season), which now stands at five games. Montgomery blew past Elgin 67-26 at home. Given the Bears' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 214th, while the Wildcats are ranked 594th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Montgomery's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Damion Taylor led the charge by rushing for 95 yards and a touchdown, while also picking up 43 receiving yards. Taylor got the majority of those rushing yards when he took off on a run that went for an incredible 89 yards. Keldrid Ben was another key rusher, rushing for 73 yards and two touchdowns on only seven carries.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Montgomery was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 399 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 203 rushing yards in five consecutive matches dating back to last season.
Montgomery wouldn't let Elgin keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Montgomery can thank Phillip Raglin and Braxden Havard for forcing both of them.
Meanwhile, after only ten points in their last game, Dayton made sure to put some points up on the board against Porter two weeks ago. Everything went Dayton's way against Porter as Dayton made off with a 42-20 win. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest victory the Broncos have posted against the Spartans since November 7, 2014.
Dayton's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Jaleel Kendrick, who rushed for 154 yards and two touchdowns, and Jerry Prieto Jr, who threw for 177 yards and two touchdowns. The dominant performance gave Kendrick a new career-high in rushing yards.
Montgomery's win bumped their record up to 3-0. As for Dayton, they now have a winning record of 2-1.
Friday's contest might be decided in the on the ground. Montgomery has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 359 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Dayton struggles in that department as they've been averaging 160. It's looking like Friday's matchup might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Montgomery came up short against Dayton when the teams last played back in September of 2023, falling 39-34. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Dayton's Denim Foster, who rushed for 74 yards and three touchdowns. Now that Montgomery 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
