The Batesville Pioneers will face off against the Valley View Blazers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The timing isn't great for Batesville: they have been struggling with five straight losses at home dating back to last season, while Valley View has snatched up eight consecutive wins on the road also dating back to last season.
Having struggled with three losses in a row, Batesville finally turned things around against Greene County Tech on Friday. They took down the Golden Eagles 31-14.
Batesville's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Ethan Moser led the charge by rushing for 120 yards and a touchdown while picking up 7.1 yards per carry. Those 120 rushing yards gave Moser a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Cole Bentz, who threw for 96 yards and two touchdowns while completing 80% of his passes.
Meanwhile, Valley View beat Nettleton 28-20 on Friday. Given the Blazers' advantage in MaxPreps' Arkansas football rankings (they are ranked 18th, while the Raiders are ranked 61st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Drew Gartman, who rushed for 181 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 7.9 yards per carry, and also threw for 178 yards and a touchdown on only 15 passes. A healthy portion of Gartman's aerial production (87 yards to be exact) went to Andrew Jones, who also brought in a receiving touchdown.
Valley View was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 279 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Batesville's record is now 2-7. As for Valley View, their record now sits at 9-0.
Batesville ended up a good deal behind Valley View when the teams last played back in November of 2023, losing 28-10. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Valley View's Anthony Feliz, who rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown on only 11 carries. Now that Batesville knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
