After two games on the road, Mercedes is heading back home. They will welcome the Pace Vikings at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Mercedes will be strutting in after a victory while Pace will be coming in after a loss.
Mercedes is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They claimed a resounding 56-13 win over Porter. Considering the Tigers have won four games by more than 20 points this season, Saturday's blowout was nothing new.
It was another big night for Robert Sanchez, who rushed for 118 yards and three touchdowns on only six carries. His longest rush was for an impressive 57 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. The team also got some help courtesy of Aaron Cortez, who threw for 126 yards and two touchdowns while completing 77.8% of his passes.
Mercedes was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 244 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 169 rushing yards in nine consecutive contests.
Despite a strong season so far, Pace has seen their luck take a bit of a downturn recently. They fell just short of Lopez by a score of 24-21 last Thursday. That makes it the first time this season the Vikings have let down their home crowd.
The match pitted two dominant backs against one another in Adrian Sauceda and Eddie Slovak. Slovak had a great game and rushed for 233 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.3 yards per carry. Meanwhile, Sauceda was balling out in the loss, rushing for 299 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 12.0 yards per carry.
Pace wouldn't let Lopez keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Pace can thank Ignacio Ramirez and Jesus Caballero for forcing both of them. Ramirez also set a new season high mark in total tackles with nine. Another thorn in Lopez's side was Narciso Rodriguez, who made 16 total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Mercedes' record is now 6-3. As for Pace, their defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 6-3.
Friday's match might be decided in the on the ground. Mercedes has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 259.1 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Pace struggles in that department as they've been averaging 317.2. It's looking like Friday's matchup might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Everything came up roses for Mercedes against Pace when the teams last played back in October of 2017, as the team secured a 61-21 victory. Does Mercedes have another victory up their sleeve, or will Pace turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
