Football Preview: East Duplin Panthers vs. Kinston Vikings
East Duplin has enjoyed the comforts of home their last three games, but now they'll head out on the road. They will venture away from home to square off against the Kinston Vikings at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Hopefully East Duplin focused on turnovers this week as the team gave up four on Friday.
East Duplin came up short against James Kenan, falling 43-20. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest defeat the Panthers have suffered against the Tigers since September 11, 2015.
Despite the loss, East Duplin got top-tier performance from Shawn Davis, who rushed for 126 yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Kinston). They claimed a resounding 39-0 win over South Lenoir on the road. The high-flying offensive performance was a huge turnaround for the Vikings considering their 12-point performance the match before.
Jeremiah Hart had a dynamite game for Kinston, rushing for 162 yards and two touchdowns on only 14 carries. The team also got some help courtesy of Tyler Jones, who threw for 102 yards and two touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Kinston was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 218 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted was before the start of last season.
East Duplin now has a losing record at 2-3. As for Kinston, the victory was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 3-2.
Thursday's contest might be decided in the trenches. East Duplin has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 310.8 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for Kinston, though, as they've been averaging only 88.4. How will they fare against such a dominant running game?
Everything came up roses for East Duplin against Kinston when the teams last played back in September of 2023, as the team secured a 66-12 win. In that game, East Duplin amassed a halftime lead of 52-12, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Thursday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
