Football Preview: North Duplin Rebels vs. Lakewood Leopards
North Duplin is on a three-game streak of home wins, while Lakewood is on a three-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The North Duplin Rebels will welcome the Lakewood Leopards at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
North Duplin's defense heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They really took it to Bear Grass Charter for the full four quarters, racking up a 48-0 victory at home. The Rebels pushed the score to 42-0 by the end of the third, a deficit the Bears had no chance of recovering from.
Carell Phillips continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 152 yards and three touchdowns on only eight carries. His longest rush was for an impressive 65 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. The team also got some help courtesy of Luke Kelly, who rushed for 34 yards and a touchdown.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: North Duplin was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 408 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 161 rushing yards in 17 consecutive matchups dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, after only seven points in their last game, Lakewood made sure to put some points up on the board against Union on Friday. Lakewood blew past Union 55-0 at home. That 55 point margin sets a new team best for the Leopards this season.
Chris Carr was his usual excellent self, rushing for 223 yards and three touchdowns on only five carries. Rylan Godbold was another key player, rushing for 30 yards and two touchdowns.
North Duplin's win bumped their record up to 5-0. As for Lakewood, their victory bumped their record up to 5-2.
Friday's match might be decided in the on the ground. North Duplin has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 331.4 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Lakewood struggles in that department as they've been averaging 237. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
North Duplin came up short against Lakewood when the teams last played back in October of 2023, falling 23-15. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Lakewood's Nakai Owens, who rushed for 62 yards and two touchdowns, and also picked up 30 receiving yards. Now that North Duplin 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
