The Monterey Trail Mustangs will square off against the Elk Grove Thundering Herd at 7:15 p.m. on Friday. Monterey Trail is coming into the match hot, having won their last five games.
Monterey Trail is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They took their matchup on Friday with ease, bagging a 63-6 victory over Cosumnes Oaks. The Mustangs might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four contests by 22 points or more this season.
Monterey Trail's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was CHRISTIAN CORONADO, who threw for 170 yards and four touchdowns while completing 77.8% of his passes. The team also got some help courtesy of JIMMY JACKSON, who picked up 115 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Another reason for the win was Monterey Trail's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for eight sacks. The heavy lifting was done by KHARTER TURK and GABE CORONADO, who racked up four sacks between them.
Meanwhile, after a string of six wins, Elk Grove's good fortune finally ran out on Friday. They took a 31-14 bruising from Pleasant Grove.
Although Elk Grove took the loss, they still got scores from Austin Maze and Alphonso Moore Jr..
Even though they lost, Elk Grove was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 260 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 222 rushing yards in 11 consecutive games dating back to last season.
Monterey Trail now has a winning record of 5-4. As for Elk Grove, their loss ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 6-3.
Friday's match might be decided in the on the ground. Monterey Trail has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 251.6 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Elk Grove struggles in that department as they've been averaging 326.8. It's looking like Friday's matchup might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Monterey Trail didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Elk Grove when the teams last played back in November of 2021, but they still walked away with a 27-23 victory. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Elk Grove's Zeke Burnett, who rushed for 209 yards and a touchdown while picking up 8.4 yards per carry. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be easier for Monterey Trail to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
