Football Preview: LaGrange Grangers vs. Sandy Creek Patriots
LaGrange is 0-5 against Sandy Creek since October of 2016 but things could change on Friday. The LaGrange Grangers are on the road again to play the Sandy Creek Patriots at 7:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
LaGrange is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Lumpkin County 48-6. With the Grangers ahead 35-0 at the half, the game was all but over already.
The match pitted two dominant backs against one another in Malachi Render-Fannin and Nolan Matthews. Render-Fannin had a great game and rushed for 201 yards while picking up 11.8 yards per carry. Meanwhile, Matthews did his best for the losing side, rushing for 121 yards.
LaGrange was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 201 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 162 rushing yards in four consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, everything went Sandy Creek's way against Adairsville on Friday as Sandy Creek made off with a 48-23 win. Given the Patriots' advantage in MaxPreps' Georgia football rankings (they are ranked 49th, while the Tigers are ranked 209th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Sandy Creek's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Caleb Hill, who threw for 285 yards and three touchdowns while completing 83.3% of his passes, and Amari Latimer, who gained 171 total yards and two touchdowns. Another player making a difference was Zalen Green, who picked up 98 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Sandy Creek didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Rod Smith Jr and Evan Harvey.
LaGrange is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 8-3 record this season. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 29.1 points. As for Sandy Creek, their victory was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 10-1.
LaGrange suffered a grim 27-7 defeat to Sandy Creek when the teams last played back in August. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Latimer, who rushed for 194 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.8 yards per carry, and also picked up 49 receiving yards. Now that LaGrange knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
