On Friday Sunrise Mountain will have to hit the road after four straight games at home. They will venture away from home to face off against the Cactus Cobras at 7:00 p.m.
Sunrise Mountain is headed into the match out to prove that what happened against Desert Edge on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Sunrise Mountain lost 42-17 to Desert Edge. While losing is never fun, the Mustangs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Arizona football rankings (they are ranked 88th, while the Scorpions are ranked 29th).
Sunrise Mountain's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Nicholas Bombaci, who rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown, and Elijah Mendez, who rushed for 100 yards and a touchdown. The dominant performance gave Mendez a new career-high in rushing yards.
Sunrise Mountain didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Dietrich Ockenfels and Jesse Kirby.
Meanwhile, Cactus waltzed into their matchup on Thursday with two straight wins... but they left with three. They walked away with a 50-41 victory over the Vipers.
Cactus got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Tayejion Player out in front who rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns. Another player making a difference was Robert Bell Jr, who gained 99 total yards and two touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Cactus was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 313 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Sunrise Mountain's defeat dropped their record down to 2-5. As for Cactus, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 5-2 record this season.
Sunrise Mountain couldn't quite finish off Cactus in their previous matchup back in October of 2023 and fell 48-45. Can Sunrise Mountain avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
