Football Preview: Batesburg-Leesville Panthers vs. Clinton Red Devils
The Batesburg-Leesville Panthers will take on the Clinton Red Devils at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Batesburg-Leesville comes in on 12 and Clinton on six.
Batesburg-Leesville is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They blew past Andrew Jackson, posting a 49-14 victory. The result was nothing new for the Panthers, who have now won nine games by 21 points or more so far this season.
Meanwhile, Clinton really took it to Chester for the full four quarters, racking up a 48-20 win. The Red Devils might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won eight 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 Rhett Gilliam and Javen Cook. Gilliam rushed for 165 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 8.3 yards per carry while Cook rushed for 130 yards and a touchdown on only 14 carries. The dominant performance gave Gilliam a new career-high in rushing yards. The team also got some help courtesy of Tushawan Richardson, who rushed for 18 yards and a touchdown.
Clinton didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Brett Young and Austin Boyd. Young is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made five or more in the last 16 games he's played dating back to last season.
Clinton was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 432 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 276 rushing yards in six consecutive contests.
Batesburg-Leesville pushed their record up to 12-0 with the victory, which was their eighth straight at home. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 39.4 points. As for Clinton, their record now sits at 9-2.
Batesburg-Leesville might still be hurting after the 50-28 loss they got from Clinton in their previous meeting back in August of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Richardson, who threw for 136 yards and two touchdowns while completing 83.3% of his passes, and also rushed for 32 yards and a touchdown. Now that Batesburg-Leesville knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
