The El Monte Lions are taking a road trip to challenge the South El Monte Eagles at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both might be coming in a bit winded given these two teams combined for 908 yards in their previous games.
If El Monte beats South El Monte with 28 points on Friday, it's going to be the squad's new lucky number: they've won their past two games with that exact score. El Monte took down Gabrielino 28-14 on Friday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Lions.
Felipe Taboada continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 156 yards and two touchdowns on only 13 carries. His longest rush was for an impressive 57 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Noah Munoz did his part to keep the secondary busy, picking up 121 receiving yards.
Another reason for the win was El Monte's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for seven sacks. Leading the way was Humberto Marin with two. El Monte got some further help from Nathan Jimenez: he picked up 1.5 sacks and made ten total tackles (2.0 for loss).
El Monte was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 324 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for South El Monte, who bounced back after a loss on the road back in September. Their defense stepped up to hand Mountain View a 42-0 shutout on Thursday. The contest marked the Eagles' most dominant victory of the season.
Matthew Medina had a dynamite game for South El Monte, throwing for 248 yards and three touchdowns while completing 77.8% of his passes. Damian Cordova helped Medina out on the ground, rushing for 76 yards and a touchdown.
El Monte's win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 5-1. As for South El Monte, the victory got them back to even at 3-3.
Friday's match might be decided in the trenches. El Monte has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 242 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for South El Monte, though, as they've been averaging only 84. How will they fare against such a dominant running game?
El Monte was dealt a bruising 42-8 loss at the hands of South El Monte in their previous meeting back in September of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Medina, who threw for 270 yards and three touchdowns. Now that El Monte 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
