Football Preview: East Duplin Panthers vs. James Kenan Tigers
The East Duplin Panthers have the luxury of staying home for another week and will welcome the James Kenan Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
East Duplin's offense will try to repeat the strong performance it gave on Friday, when they got past Croatan's usually-dominant defense. East Duplin was the clear victor by a 40-17 margin over Croatan. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as the Panthers just coasted through the last quarter.
East Duplin wouldn't let Croatan keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. East Duplin can thank Jacauri Hill and Calvin Harper for forcing both of them. Harper is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made five or more in the last eight games he's played dating back to last season.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, East Duplin was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 318 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 168 rushing yards in four consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, James Kenan put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They blew past East Bladen 34-14. The result was nothing new for the Tigers, who have now won three contests by 20 points or more so far this season.
The victory got East Duplin back to even at 2-2. As for James Kenan, their win bumped their record up to 4-0.
Friday's game might be decided in the trenches. East Duplin has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 297.2 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like James Kenan struggles in that department as they've been averaging 213.5. It's looking like Friday's match might have some serious battles in the trenches.
East Duplin took their victory against James Kenan in their previous meeting back in September of 2023 by a conclusive 28-7. Will East Duplin repeat their success, or does James Kenan have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
