Football Preview: Pendleton Heights Arabians vs. Greenfield-Central Cougars
The Pendleton Heights Arabians will host the Greenfield-Central Cougars at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be battling to keep a three-game winning streak alive.
Pendleton Heights is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They secured a 28-22 W over New Castle.
Keaton Jones continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 144 yards and a touchdown. His rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his third straight game with at least 124 rushing yards. Wyatt Elijah made the highlight reel by snagging an interception and taking it all the way to the house.
Pendleton Heights was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 211 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 156 rushing yards in five consecutive games.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Greenfield-Central). They blew past Beech Grove, posting a 56-0 victory. The result was nothing new for the Cougars, who have now won six matchups by 35 points or more so far this season.
Dallas Freeman was his usual excellent self, rushing for 134 yards and two touchdowns on only seven carries. That's the most rushing yards he has posted since back in October of 2023.
Another reason for the win was Greenfield-Central's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for 5.5 sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Zach Blevens and Jacob Vanosdol, who racked up 4.5 sacks between them.
The win got Pendleton Heights back to even at 5-5. As for Greenfield-Central, their victory bumped their record up to 8-2.
Friday's contest might be decided in the on the ground. Pendleton Heights has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 188 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Greenfield-Central struggles in that department as they've been averaging 221.8. It's looking like Friday's match might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Pendleton Heights lost to Greenfield-Central at home by a decisive 28-14 margin when the teams last played back in September. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Freeman, who threw for 162 yards and two touchdowns, and also rushed for 92 yards on only 13 carries. Now that Pendleton Heights 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
