Desert Hills is 2-8 against Dixie since October of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Desert Hills Thunder will head out on the road to challenge the Dixie Flyers at 7:00 p.m. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this contest.
Desert Hills is likely headed into the game with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against Crimson Cliffs two weeks ago. Desert Hills fell 28-17 to Crimson Cliffs.
Despite the defeat, Desert Hills got top-tier performance from Tytan Mason, who rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 8.0 yards per carry. Mason is on a roll when it comes to rushing touchdowns, as he's now punched in two or more in the last four games he's played dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, Dixie fought the good fight in their overtime match against Pine View on Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They were just a hair shy of victory and fell 35-34 to the Panthers.
Despite the loss, Dixie got top-tier performance from Ran Sawyer, who rushed for 201 yards and two touchdowns. Another player making a difference was Wyatt Truman, who rushed for nine yards and two touchdowns.
Desert Hills now has a losing record at 2-3. As for Dixie, they dropped their record down to 1-4 with the defeat, which was their third straight at home.
Friday's matchup might be decided in the on the ground. Desert Hills has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 184.6 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Dixie struggles in that department as they've been averaging 151.2. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Desert Hills and Dixie were neck-and-neck in their previous meeting back in September of 2023, but Desert Hills came up empty-handed after a 27-26 loss. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Sawyer, who rushed for 90 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries, and also picked up 35 receiving yards. Now that Desert Hills knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
