The Royal Highlanders will venture away from home to take on the Ventura Cougars at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Royal is coming into the game on a five-game losing streak.
Royal is headed into the match out to prove that what happened against Buena on Thursday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Royal was beaten by Buena 50-21.
Royal might have lost, but man, Caden Pugh was a machine: he rushed for 127 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.5 yards per carry. The dominant performance gave Pugh a new career-high in rushing yards. Landen Murray also helped out with an impressive 84 receiving yards.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Ventura). They pulled ahead with a 36-35 photo finish over Moorpark on Friday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Cougars.
Derek Garcia was his usual excellent self, throwing for 215 yards and three touchdowns, while also punching in a rushing score. Jack Cunningham was Garcia's top target, picking up 106 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Royal's defeat dropped their record down to 2-5. As for Ventura, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 4-3 record this season.
Royal took a serious blow against Ventura in their previous meeting back in August of 2019, falling 51-14. Thankfully for Royal, Cade Ledesma (who threw for 89 yards and three touchdowns while completing 83.3% of his passes, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground) 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
