Palm Desert hasn't had much luck against Yucaipa recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Palm Desert Aztecs will head out to face off against the Yucaipa Thunderbirds at 7:30 p.m. Yucaipa took a loss in their last matchup and will be looking to turn the tables on Palm Desert, who comes in off a win.
Palm Desert will bounce into Thursday's contest after beating Serrano, who they hadn't topped in three consecutive meetings. Palm Desert strolled past Serrano with points to spare on Friday, taking the game 43-27. The Aztecs' offense stepped up their game for this one, as that was the most points they've scored all season.
Meanwhile, Yucaipa's undefeated season came to an end after three games on Friday. They lost to Palm Springs on the road by a 32-14 margin. The loss was the Thunderbirds' first of the season.
Despite the defeat, Yucaipa had strong showings from Logan Barbour, who rushed for 182 yards and a touchdown while picking up 10.1 yards per carry, and Eric Moreno, who rushed for 87 yards and a touchdown on only six carries. The dominant performance gave Barbour a new career-high in rushing yards.
Even though they lost, Yucaipa was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 305 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 231 rushing yards in four consecutive games.
The win made it two in a row for Palm Desert and bumps their season record up to 2-2. As for Yucaipa, their loss was their first of the season and makes their record 3-1.
Palm Desert was dealt a bruising 43-0 defeat at the hands of Yucaipa when the teams last played back in September of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Barbour, who rushed for 76 yards and three touchdowns. Now that Palm Desert 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
