Football Game Preview: Madison Patriots vs. Hendersonville Bearcats + How To Watch

Two dominant backs in Ivan Blankenship and Jordan Buford are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Madison Patriots will face off against the Hendersonville Bearcats at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

Madison will head out to face Hendersonville after giving up their first home loss of the season on Friday. The Patriots took a blow against Mountain Heritage, falling 52-20. While losing is never fun, the Patriots can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 344th, while the Cougars are ranked 97th).

The match pitted two dominant backs against one another in Blankenship and Ervine Rodriguez. Rodriguez had a great game and rushed for 178 yards and three TDs while picking up 10.5 yards per carry. Meanwhile, Blankenship was balling out in the loss, rushing for 127 yards on only ten carries, while also catching one score.

Meanwhile, Hendersonville humbled Mitchell with a 34-7 victory. The result was nothing new for the Bearcats, who have now won three games by 27 points or more so far this season.

Madison better focus on containing Gianni Jacobs and JaRon Ward as the pair were huge in Hendersonville's win. Jacobs rushed for 72 yards and one touchdown on only ten carries, while Ward rushed for 63 yards and a pair of TDs. Those 72 rushing yards gave Jacobs a new career-high.

Hendersonville was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 234 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 214 rushing yards in three consecutive contests.

Hendersonville's record now sits at 4-1. As for Madison, their loss dropped their record down to 3-3.

Madison was dealt a bruising 66-31 defeat at the hands of Hendersonville in their previous meeting back in September of 2016. Can the Patriots avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.