After each having a week off, the Los Lunas Tigers and the Albuquerque Bulldogs will dust off their jerseys to challenge one another at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Los Lunas comes in on three and Albuquerque on four.
Los Lunas is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of New Mexico's top teams: West Mesa, who was ranked 24th in their home state at the time (Los Lunas was ranked seventh). Los Lunas blew past West Mesa 54-21 at home last Friday. That 33 point margin sets a new team best for the Tigers this season.
The critical scores for Los Lunas came from Kaiden Reese, Anthony Castillo, Jordan Howard, Jagger Casillas, J'Den Howard, Martin Cordova, and Luke Cieremans.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Los Lunas was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 303 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 211 rushing yards in three consecutive games.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Los Lunas' defense and their five sacks. West Mesa's QB won't forget Bryant Baca anytime soon given he sacked him twice.
Meanwhile, Albuquerque hadn't done well against Atrisco Heritage Academy recently (they were 0-4 in their previous four matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way last Friday. Albuquerque had just enough and edged Atrisco Heritage Academy out 14-12. The 14-point effort marked the Bulldogs' lowest-scoring contest of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
Isaac Houlihan was his usual excellent self, rushing for 100 yards and two touchdowns.
Los Lunas' win was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 3-1. As for Albuquerque, their victory bumped their record up to 4-1.
Friday's match might be decided in the on the ground. Los Lunas has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 220.2 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Albuquerque struggles in that department as they've been averaging 245.8. It's looking like Friday's matchup might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Everything came up roses for Los Lunas against Albuquerque when the teams last played back in October of 2023, as the team secured a 54-0 win. Does Los Lunas have another victory up their sleeve, or will Albuquerque turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
