The Tolar Rattlers will take on the Dublin Lions at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Tolar has five straight wins, Dublin has 11 straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Tolar is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They claimed a resounding 56-0 victory over Early at home. Given the Rattlers' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 331st, while the Longhorns are ranked 852nd), the result on Friday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Tolar relied on the efforts of Peyton Brown, who rushed for 100 yards and a touchdown on only nine carries, and Dacen Watkins, who picked up 78 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Brown's rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his third straight game with at least 100 rushing yards.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Tolar was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 202 rushing yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Early only rushed for 72.
Tolar didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. Anson Laminack picked up that interception and then proceeded to rub salt in the wound by taking it back the other way for a touchdown.
Meanwhile, Dublin suffered their closest defeat since September 8, 2023 on Friday. They fell just short of Brady by a score of 34-31.
Loss or not, Dublin got some senior leadership from Kaden Gaiten and Dj Ferguson. Gaiten threw for 360 yards and three touchdowns, while Ferguson gained 181 total yards and two touchdowns. Ferguson was no stranger to the big play, lighting up the secondary with a catch that went for 62 yards.
Tolar's win was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 5-1. As for Dublin, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-6.
Tolar ended up a good deal behind Dublin in their previous meeting back in October of 2019, losing 35-20. Can Tolar avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
