Football Recap: East Lincoln Falls Short Against Ranked Hickory

East Lincoln faced Hickory in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Friday. The Mustangs fell just short of the Red Tornadoes by a score of 31-28. The game marked the Mustangs' lowest-scoring matchup so far this season.

Despite the loss, East Lincoln still got an impressive performance from Grant Lawless, who threw for 274 yards and three TDs on only 19 passes, and also rushed for 43 yards. Another player making a difference was Tyson Maggs, who picked up 82 receiving yards and one score.

Don't try to pin the team's loss on the defense: they kept the trenches locked down and allowed a mere 3.3 yards per carry. The team can thank Kaleb Lauffer for the heroic effort on defense: he. East Lincoln didn't have any issues in that department, having averaged 6.1.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Hickory to victory, but perhaps none more so than Ronan Nieland, who picked up 214 receiving yards and four touchdowns. Those 214 receiving yards gave Nieland a new career-high. Maddox McRee was another key player, throwing for 342 yards and four TDs while picking up 15.5 yards per attempt.

Having lost for the first time this season, East Lincoln fell to 8-1. As for Hickory, the victory (which was their eighth in a row) raised their record to 8-1.

Coming up, East Lincoln is taking a road trip to challenge Maiden at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The two teams might be coming in a bit winded given these two teams combined for 880 yards in their previous games. As for Hickory, they will have some time to savor their win since their next game is a little ways off: they'll take on Bandys at 7:00 p.m. on the 31st.