Football Preview: Cross Trojans vs. Ridgeland
Cross has won five straight games at home, while Ridgeland has won five straight on the road, but those streaks won't matter much on Friday. The Cross Trojans will welcome Ridgeland at 7:30 p.m. Cross knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 31 points or more in their past seven matches -- so hopefully Ridgeland likes a good challenge.
Cross is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They breezed by Green Sea Floyds to the tune of 48-0. Cross might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won nine matchups by 20 points or more this season.
This one was won in the trenches and the lion's share of the credit has to go to Karmello Jones and Mah'Ky Green. Jones rushed for 212 yards and two touchdowns on only 11 carries while Green rushed for 108 yards and four touchdowns on only six carries. Jones' longest rush was for an impressive 52 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total.
Cross was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 357 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in October of 2023.
Cross' defense made their presence known, laying out the QB three times. Kerji Polite was especially locked on to Green Sea Floyds' QB and sacked him twice.
Meanwhile, it may have taken overtime to finish the job, but Ridgeland ultimately got the result they hoped for on Friday. They snuck past Scott's Branch with a 26-20 victory. 26 seems to be a good number for Ridgeland as the squad scooped up a win with the same number of points in their previous game.
It was another big night for Wenson Smith, who rushed for 227 yards while picking up 8.7 yards per carry, and also threw for 50 yards and two touchdowns. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 110.4 rushing yards per game. Another player making a difference was Semaj Hicks, who picked up 60 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Ridgeland wouldn't let Scott's Branch keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Cordell Mclain was the leader in that area as all came courtesy of his dominant performance. Ridgeland got some further help from Denardo Henry: he picked up a sack and made seven total tackles (4.0 for loss).
Ridgeland is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a nice bump to their 7-4 record this season. Those victories were due in large part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 9.1 points per game. As for Cross, their victory bumped their record up to 9-2.
Friday's contest will pit two of the most dominant backs against one another: Jones and Smith. Jones just won't slow down this season and has run in 27 touchdowns while averaging 138 rushing yards per game. Smith has been a dominant force too and has averaged 16 receiving yards per game.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
