Football Game Preview: South Decatur Cougars vs. Eastern Greene Thunderbirds

The South Decatur Cougars will venture away from home to square off against the Eastern Greene Thunderbirds at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. South Decatur will be strutting in after a victory while Eastern Greene will be coming in after a loss.

South Decatur will roll into the contest after a wild two-game stretch: they didn't score any points last Friday, then bounced right back against Crimson Knights on Friday. The Cougars blew past Crimson Knights 41-6. The win continues a trend for the Cougars in their matchups with Crimson Knights: they've now won four in a row.

Jayden Jackson-Ray had another great game (as he tends to do), rushing for 112 yards and three touchdowns on only ten carries. His longest rush was for an impressive 60 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. The team also got some help courtesy of Keaton Troutman, who threw for 103 yards and a pair of TDs while completing 77.8% of his passes.

Special teams also deserves some recognition, posting 11 points in total. The biggest highlight from special teams (and perhaps the team as a whole) came courtesy of Jackson-Ray, who ran a punt back for a touchdown.

Meanwhile, Eastern Greene was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their fifth straight defeat. They received a blow as they fell 39-21 to North Central. On the bright side, the 21- point effort marked Eastern Greene's highest-scoring matchup to date.

South Decatur will need to focus on slowing down Eli Engleking, one of several Eastern Greene players who made an impact when they last played. He picked up 69 receiving yards and one score, and also rushed for 34 yards.

Eastern Greene's loss dropped their record down to 1-8. As for South Decatur, their victory bumped their record up to 3-5.

Things could have been worse for South Decatur, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 54-37 loss to Eastern Greene when the teams last played back in October of 2016. Can the Cougars avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.