Football Game Preview: Rockingham County Cougars vs. Morehead Panthers

The Rockingham County Cougars will venture away from home to challenge the Morehead Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Rockingham County will be strutting in after a victory while Morehead will be coming in after a loss.

Rockingham County's defense heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They blew past Carver 29-0. Considering the Cougars have won three games by more than 28 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.

Luke Strittmatter

Rushing Yards

09/19/25 vs McMichael	147
10/17/25 @ Carver	140
08/22/25 @ Southwest Guilford	116
09/12/25 vs Asheboro	84
10/10/25 vs Bartlett Yancey	51
+ 3 more games

Luke Strittmatter was his usual excellent self, rushing for 140 yards and three TDs. He has become a key player for Rockingham County: the team is 3-1 when he posts at least 80 rushing yards, but 1-3 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Malachi Bryant, who rushed for 59 yards and one score.

They were just one part of a punishing run game: Rockingham County was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 224 rushing yards. They are a perfect 3-0 when they've run for more than 200 yards.

Rockingham County didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Noah Isley and Brady Ross.

Meanwhile, Friday just wasn't the day for Morehead's offense. They were beaten by Reidsville 55-0 last Friday. While losing is never fun, the Panthers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 350th, while the Rams are ranked 50th).

Rockingham County has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four contests. That's provided a massive bump to their 4-4 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 33.3 points over those games. As for Morehead, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-6.

Rockingham County didn't have too much breathing room in their matchup against Morehead when the teams last played back in August of 2024, but they still walked away with a 13-7 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Cougars since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.