Mohave Accelerated is 1-6 against Bagdad since October of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Mohave Accelerated Patriots are taking a road trip to square off against the Bagdad Sultans at 7:00 p.m. Each of these teams will be battling to keep a five-game winning streak alive.
Mohave Accelerated is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Arizona's top teams: El Capitan, who was ranked seventh in their home state at the time (Mohave Accelerated was ranked sixth). Mohave Accelerated snuck past El Capitan with a 28-22 win on Friday. The score was all tied up 16-16 at the break, but the Patriots were the better team in the second half.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Mohave Accelerated to victory, but perhaps none more so than Ivan Sia, who rushed for 63 yards and a touchdown on only eight carries.
Mohave Accelerated didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Vince Garcia Jr and Martin Abundiz.
Meanwhile, Bagdad put their dominant defense on display in the team's fifth consecutive shutout on Friday. They took their game on the road with ease, bagging a 55-0 victory over Salome. The Sultans might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won six matches by 34 points or more this season.
Bagdad's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Aaron Landers, who picked up 243 receiving yards and four touchdowns. Landers torched the secondary when he pulled down a catch that went for 80 yards. The team also got some help courtesy of Ezrah Aguilar, who threw for 335 yards and six touchdowns while picking up 16.0 yards per attempt.
Another reason for the win was Bagdad's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for 5.5 sacks. Nick Martinez was especially locked on to Salome's QB and sacked him three times.
Mohave Accelerated's victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 7-1. As for Bagdad, their win bumped their record up to an identical 7-1.
Friday's contest might be decided in the on the ground. Mohave Accelerated has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 210.2 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Bagdad struggles in that department as they've been averaging 222.1. It's looking like Friday's matchup might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Mohave Accelerated took a serious blow against Bagdad in their previous matchup back in October of 2023, falling 63-0. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Aguilar, who rushed for 151 yards and two touchdowns on only 14 carries, and also threw for 192 yards and five touchdowns while completing 73.7% of his passes. Now that Mohave Accelerated knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
