St. Johns and Pima are an even 3-3 against one another since October of 2016, but not for long. The St. Johns Redskins will head out to square off against the Pima Roughriders at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as St. Johns comes in on three and Pima on eight.
St. Johns' defense heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They breezed by Alchesay to the tune of 55-0. That looming 55-0 mark stands out as the most commanding margin for the Redskins yet this season.
Mark Cox continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 121 yards and two touchdowns on only nine carries. He has become a key player for St. Johns: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two rushing touchdowns, but 1-4 otherwise. Mckray Johnson got in on the action too, converting a pick into a touchdown.
St. Johns was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 234 rushing yards. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their rushing yard total in three consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, Pima earned a 29-22 victory over Santa Cruz Valley on Friday.
One reason for the win was Pima's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for four sacks. Santa Cruz Valley's QB won't forget Brock Haws anytime soon given he sacked him twice. Haws also set a new season high mark in total tackles with 11.
Pima's win was their tenth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 9-1. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 41.8 points per game. As for St. Johns, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 6-4 record this season.
Friday's match might be decided in the on the ground. St. Johns has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 163.7 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Pima struggles in that department as they've been averaging 228.3. It's looking like Friday's game might have some serious battles in the trenches.
St. Johns came up short against Pima in their previous matchup back in September, falling 7-2. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Pima's Jeremiah Martinez, who rushed for 156 yards. Now that St. Johns 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
