Mission Veterans Memorial has enjoyed the comforts of home their last two games, but now they'll head out on the road. They will square off against the Pieper Warriors at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Mission Veterans Memorial had no problem doing just that on Friday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Valley View 43-6 at home. The match was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 28-0.
Braden Luedeker was his usual excellent self, rushing for 118 yards and three touchdowns on only ten carries, while also throwing for 241 yards and two touchdowns. Luedeker hasn't dropped below 100 rushing yards for three straight games. Abel Lucio was another key contributor, picking up 47 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Pieper entered their tilt with Sam Houston with eight consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with nine. Pieper breezed by Sam Houston at home to the tune of 33-0. 33 seems to be a good number for Pieper as the squad scooped up a win with the same number of points in their previous game.
Pieper can attribute much of their success to Jake South, who threw for 326 yards and three touchdowns. South has been hot recently, having posted three or more passing touchdowns the last five times he's played. Another player making a difference was John Hamilton, who rushed for 95 yards and a touchdown on only 13 carries.
The team's defense also helped out by holding Sam Houston to a paltry 71 yards. A big part of that defensive dominance came down to Pieper's ability to keep the quarterback under pressure: the team laid the passer out six times before it was all said and done. Hyrum McCarter was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up three sacks himself.
Mission Veterans Memorial is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven matches, which provided a nice bump to their 7-4 record this season. As for Pieper, they have yet to lose a contest at home this season, leaving them with a 10-1 record.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's game: Mission Veterans Memorial has been excellent in the air this season, having averaged 303.7 passing yards per game. However, it's not like Pieper struggles in that department as they've been even better at 311.6 per game. It's looking like Friday's contest might be a classic QB duel. Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more football content.
