The Montwood Rams will take on the Franklin Cougars at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Montwood has struggled recently with six defeats in a row, while Franklin will arrive with three straight wins.
Montwood is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. The matchup between the Rams and Eastlake didn't end well, with the Rams falling 61-47. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Friday (35), the Rams still had to take the loss.
The match pitted two dominant signal callers against one another in Damian Briano and Julian Williams. Williams had a great game on Friday and threw for 296 yards and four touchdowns while completing 86.4% of his passes. Meanwhile, Briano was balling out in the loss, throwing for 478 yards and four TDs, while also rushing for 78 yards and a pair of scores.
Meanwhile, Franklin blew past Coronado, posting a 59-7 victory. The result was nothing new for the Cougars, who have now won three games by 33 points or more so far this season.
Montwood better keep an eye on Ernie Powers. He was instrumental in Franklin's win, rushing for 388 yards and seven touchdowns while picking up 15.5 yards per carry. Those seven rushing touchdowns gave Powers a new career-high. Atreyu De La Riva was another key player, gaining 78 total yards and a touchdown.
Franklin's run defense was locked in: Coronado could only muster 2.4 yards per carry. The team can thank Joseuberto (JB) Bodoni-Guzman for the heroic effort on defense: he. Franklin didn't have any issues in that department, having averaged 13.7.
Franklin's defense also made the game a nightmare for West Stansbury, racking up eight sacks. In that department, Adonis Bustillos was the leader with four.
Franklin's win bumped their record up to 4-1. As for Montwood, their loss dropped their record down to 0-5.
The upcoming contest will be a clash of competing strengths. Montwood has relied on air attacks this season and has averaged 314 passing yards per game. Franklin, on the other hand, has relied on a stout run game: they average 409.6 rushing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Montwood didn't have too much breathing room in their matchup against Franklin in their previous matchup back in October of 2024, but they still walked away with a 46-42 victory. Will the Rams repeat their success, or do the Cougars have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
