The Lincoln Trojans will head out to square off against the Rocklin Thunder at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Last Friday, Lincoln took their match on the road with ease, bagging a 45-12 win over Freedom. Given the Trojans' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 241st, while the Falcons are ranked 584th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
A big part of the victory came down to the chemistry between Julian Perez and his top target Terrence Hampton. Perez threw for 213 yards and three touchdowns while Hampton picked up 162 receiving yards and three touchdowns. With that strong performance, Hampton is now averaging an impressive 111 receiving yards per game. Lincoln also got a significant boost from Jordin Thomas, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 103 yards.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Lincoln was moving up and down the field and finished the game with 400 total yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Freedom only gained 220.
Meanwhile, Rocklin blew past Bishop Manogue, posting a 48-17 win at home. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as the Thunder just coasted through the last quarter.
Rocklin can attribute much of their success to Derek Keeley, who rushed for 95 yards and two touchdowns on only 13 carries, and Reeve Slone, who threw for 131 yards and two touchdowns. Keeley didn't just play on offense: he also picked up two sacks and made four total tackles in addition to snagging two interceptions. Another back making a difference was Rafi Merino, who rushed for 69 yards and two touchdowns.
Another reason for the win was Rocklin's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for 6.5 sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Travis Ledbetter and Keeley who racked up four sacks between them. Ledbetter also put in work on the defensive side of the ball, picking up two sacks and making three total tackles (2.0 for loss).
The victory got Lincoln back to even at 1-1. As for Rocklin, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 2-0.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
