Football Game Preview: East Central Hornets vs. Steele Knights

East Central hasn't had much luck against Steele recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Hornets will host the Knights at 7:30 p.m. East Central has given up an average of 34 points per game this season, but Friday's game will give them a chance to turn things around.

East Central fought the good fight in their overtime matchup against Judson on Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They took a 34-27 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Rockets. While the Hornets didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Rockets 20-9 in the first quarter.

Although East Central took the loss, they still got scores from Anthony Morales, Ja'Tarius Nichols, Juan Villarreal, and Joseph Kelley.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Steele). They claimed a resounding 48-20 win over Clemens. The Knights haven't had any issues with the Buffaloes recently, as the game was their sixth consecutive victory against them.

One reason for the win was Steele's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for five sacks. Leading the way was Kenyon Watkins with two.

Steele's win bumped their record up to 4-1. As for East Central, their defeat dropped their record down to 1-4.

East Central couldn't quite finish off Steele in their previous matchup back in October of 2024 and fell 62-59. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of the Knights' Jonathan Hatton, who rushed for 215 yards while picking up 9.3 yards per carry, and also picked up 31 receiving yards. Now that the Hornets know the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.