Crest has won four straight games at home, while East Lincoln has won four straight on the road, but those streaks won't matter much on Friday. The Chargers will welcome the Mustangs at 7:30 p.m. The two teams are strolling into their contests after big wins in their previous games.
Crest is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Concord 69-6. With the Chargers ahead 56-3 at the half, the game was all but over already.
Ely Hamrick
| 11/14/25 vs Concord | 256 |
| 10/31/25 @ Kings Mountain | 249 |
| 10/24/25 @ Ashbrook | 150 |
| 10/17/25 vs North Gaston | 187 |
| 10/10/25 @ Huss | 161 |
| + 6 more games |
Ely Hamrick produced another solid performance throwing for 256 yards and six TDs on only 12 passes, while also punching in one touchdown on the ground. That's the most passing yards he has posted since back in August. Michael Edwards did his part for the team as well, scoring a TD off of 90 receiving yards.
Meanwhile, East Lincoln humbled West Henderson with a 56-15 victory. Given the Mustangs' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 28th, while the Falcons are ranked 158th) , the win on Friday wasn't entirely unexpected.
East Lincoln's win came from a few key players Crest will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Grant Lawless, who threw for 213 yards and one touchdown while completing 83.3% of his passes, and also punched in one score on the ground. A healthy portion of Lawless' aerial production (103 yards to be exact) went to Jaxon Dollar, who also brought in a receiving touchdown.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to East Lincoln's defense and their three sacks. Kaleb Lauffer was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up 2.5 himself. Thanks to that big game, he is now up to 11.5 sacks on the season.
Crest's record is now 9-2. As for East Lincoln, their record now sits at 10-1.
The upcoming matchup will be a clash of competing strengths. Crest has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 163.1 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, East Lincoln has preferred to attack from the air: they average 277.4 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
