The Peoria Panthers have the luxury of staying home for another week and will welcome the Northwest Christian Crusaders at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Given that both suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this match.
Last Friday, Peoria was just a hair shy of victory and fell 7-6 to ALA - West Foothills.
Despite the loss, Peoria had strong showings from Cristian Carrillo, who rushed for 120 yards and a touchdown while picking up 7.1 yards per carry, and Javon Bell, who rushed for 120 yards while picking up 7.1 yards per carry. The dominant performance gave Carrillo a new career-high in rushing yards.
Peoria's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged three passes before it was all said and done. It was truly a group effort as Rigoberto Camacho, Angel Vasquez, and Diego Zamora picked up one apiece.
Meanwhile, Northwest Christian and Prescott were almost perfectly matched up on Friday, but Northwest Christian suffered a 42-41 defeat. The loss was the Crusaders' first of the season.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Nathan Johannes, who rushed for 174 yards and a touchdown while picking up 8.7 yards per carry, and also picked up 49 receiving yards. Another player making a difference was Dre Bair, who rushed for 29 yards and four touchdowns.
Peoria now has a losing record at 1-2. As for Northwest Christian, their loss was their first of the season and makes their record 2-1.
Friday's contest might be decided in the trenches. Peoria has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 207 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Northwest Christian struggles in that department as they've been averaging 175. It's looking like Friday's matchup might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Peoria was taken down by Northwest Christian 41-6 when the teams last played back in October of 2022. That game was all but decided by halftime, at which point Peoria was down 31-0.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
