Marcos de Niza vs. McClintock rivalry game in full swing

TEMPE, Ariz. — A matchup between familiar foes awaits Marcos de Niza with Friday night football set to begin at Marcos de Niza High School against McClintock.

The Padres and Chargers will kickoff at 7 p.m. Friday and enter this week's game 2-0.

The Padres and Chargers are close neighbors, both hailing from the Tempe Union High School District. Not only does this give them a shared district rivalry to work with, but the players on both sides are growing up in the same neighborhood, making the game even more personal than any typical game might be.

Marcos de Niza has been dominating in the last games between the two teams, with Marcos de Niza having won the last game of last year where Christian Garcia, who is a running back, got 94 rushing yards and two touchdowns with 11 rushes and 47 receiving yards.

Considering that Marcos de Niza is doing very well in this season, Garcia will certainly be the focus of the Padres offense.

Garcia has been one of the best rushers in Arizona in this season, with his best performance being against Mesquite where he got 286 rushing yards with 28 rushes and two touchdowns.

The other game in which he played was a 49-28 win over Flagstaff where he got 85 rushing yards with two touchdowns. This means that in the two games he has been playing in this season, he has gotten 371 rushing yards and four touchdowns despite being a running back and outside linebacker.

Not only has he done well for the Padres offense, but he will need to be taken care of in the defense by McClintock.

With his combination of speed and power, along with his ability to break tackles and create explosive plays in open field, the Chargers will need to make sure they stop him in the backfield, but they will need to do it without committing too many penalties.

With the way Garcia runs behind the line of scrimmage, he can take advantage of poor tackles and big plays.

McClintock is not a bad team either after winning their first game 42-6 over Camelback and following it up with a 43-12 win over Gilbert. In their win over Gilbert, the Chargers got 421 total yards of offense, including 224 yards on the ground and 197 passing yards.

This balanced attack will definitely be tough for Marcos de Niza to defend with how well the Chargers will distribute the ball to their receivers.

Not only has McClintock shown they can score on the ground, but also through the air.

Marcos de Niza will need to find a way to contain Garcia in order to be able to stop McClintock offense as they have given up 41 points so far through their first two games.

If the Chargers are able to stop the running back from getting his yards then the Padres' offense will struggle to score, leaving them to try to slow down the Chargers' offense.

Garcia has been the key to Marcos de Niza's success so far, scoring a touchdown in every game and racking up some impressive stats.

Not only has Garcia made it difficult for the defenses to stop him, but he also gives Marcos de Niza a physical presence on defense, and they will need to make the most of that in the upcoming game against the Chargers.

The winner of the matchup will get a 3-0 record, but they will definitely earn extra bragging rights as this is a rivalry game, and there is nothing better than a rivalry win.