Preview: Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears vs. Lumberton Raiders
Little Cypress-Mauriceville is on a four-game streak of home wins, while Lumberton is on a five-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears will take on the Lumberton Raiders at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: both teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Last Friday, Little Cypress-Mauriceville was fully in charge, breezing past Splendora 35-7 on the road. Given Little Cypress-Mauriceville's advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 374th, while Splendora is ranked 901st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, Lumberton can now show off five landslide victories after their most recent match on Friday. They blew past Hargrave 46-14 at home. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 33-7.
Lumberton's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Lucas Powell, who rushed for 65 yards and two touchdowns, and also threw for 171 yards and a touchdown on only 14 passes. Powell was no stranger to the big play, taking off on a dash that went for 65 yards. The team also got some help courtesy of Jaddon Ward, who rushed for 128 yards and a touchdown while picking up 8.0 yards per carry.
Their wins bumped Little Cypress-Mauriceville to 6-3 and Lumberton to 5-3.
Little Cypress-Mauriceville took a serious blow against Lumberton in their previous meeting back in October of 2022, falling 41-7. Thankfully for Little Cypress-Mauriceville, Brady Fuselier (who picked up 119 receiving yards and two touchdowns) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
