The Waxahachie Indians will square off against the Cedar Hill Longhorns at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Waxahachie is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 31.2 points per game this season.
Last Friday, Waxahachie didn't have too much breathing room in their matchup against Horn, but they still walked away with a 37-33 victory. Given the Indians' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 26th, while the Jaguars are ranked 268th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
The critical scores for Waxahachie came from Tristian Gardner, Trenton Kidd, and Bryson Linnear.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Waxahachie's defensive line and their five sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Cade Pointer and Carmelo Clawson, who racked up all five sacks between them. Clawson also made seven total tackles, which is notable because Waxahachie is 2-1 when he posts at least four total tackles, but 1-2 otherwise.
Cedar Hill's found some homefield redemption this week after a overtime loss to Lancaster on Friday. Cedar Hill enjoyed a cozy 28-14 win over Mesquite. The Longhorns' offense checked out after the first half but had enough points banked to take the game anyway.
Cedar Hill's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but CJ Castleberry led the charge by rushing for 132 yards and a touchdown on only 15 carries. Castleberry's longest rush was for an impressive 52 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Dayshun Reese was another key back, rushing for 129 yards and a touchdown while picking up 8.1 yards per carry.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Cedar Hill was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 307 rushing yards. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved they're rushing yard total in four consecutive games.
The victory got Waxahachie back to even at 3-3. As for Cedar Hill, the win also got them back to even at 3-3.
The upcoming contest will be a clash of competing strengths. Waxahachie has relied on air attacks this season and has averaged 300.7 passing yards per game. Cedar Hill, on the other hand, has relied on a stout run game: they average 228.8 rushing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Waxahachie strolled past Cedar Hill when the teams last played back in September of 2023 by a score of 39-21. Does Waxahachie have another victory up their sleeve, or will Cedar Hill turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
