Football Preview: East Rankin Academy Patriots vs. Leake Academy Rebels
East Rankin Academy is 1-6 against Leake Academy since September of 2017 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The East Rankin Academy Patriots and the Leake Academy Rebels are set to duel.
East Rankin Academy is headed into the game out to prove that what happened against Madison-Ridgeland Academy on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. East Rankin Academy was beaten by Madison-Ridgeland Academy 44-14. While losing is never fun, East Rankin Academy can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Mississippi football rankings (they are ranked 213th, while Madison-Ridgeland Academy is ranked ninth).
Although East Rankin Academy took the loss, they still got scores from Luke Wesson and Aiden Carlisle.
East Rankin Academy didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Andy Bowman and Brayden Ingram.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Leake Academy, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Friday. They blew past Pillow Academy 55-21 at home on Friday. With the Rebels ahead 48-14 at the half, the match was all but over already.
George Wilcox was his usual excellent self, throwing for 358 yards and five touchdowns while picking up 10.5 yards per attempt, and also punching in a touchdown on the ground. He is becoming a predictor of Leake Academy's success: when he posts at least 250 passing yards the team is 3-1 (and 1-2 when he doesn't). Matthew Nowell was Wilcox's top target, picking up 99 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
East Rankin Academy's loss dropped their record down to 2-6. As for Leake Academy, their win was their fourth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 4-3.
East Rankin Academy was dealt a bruising 68-35 defeat at the hands of Leake Academy when the teams last played back in October of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Wilcox, who threw for 461 yards and four touchdowns while completing 74.2% of his passes, and also punched in two touchdowns on the ground. Now that East Rankin Academy 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
