Football Preview: Rushville Lions vs. Lapel Bulldogs
Rushville and Lapel are an even 3-3 against one another since September of 2014, but not for long. The Rushville Lions will challenge the Lapel Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Rushville will be strutting in after a win while Lapel will be coming in after a loss.
Rushville is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They claimed a resounding 44-8 victory over Connersville on the road. The Lions pushed the score to 44-0 by the end of the third, a deficit the Spartans cut but never quite recovered from.
It was another big night for Sam Pavey, who rushed for 59 yards and two touchdowns on only seven carries. Another rusher making a difference was Quinn Barada, who rushed for 68 yards and a touchdown.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Rushville was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 205 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 182 rushing yards in five consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, Lapel entered their matchup against North Decatur on Friday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. Lapel fell 29-22 to North Decatur. The loss was the Bulldogs' first of the season.
Lapel might have lost, but man, Devin Craig was a machine: he threw for 249 yards and three touchdowns while completing 78.3% of his passes, and also rushed for 43 yards. The dominant performance gave Craig a new career-high in rushing yards.
Rushville now has a winning record of 3-2. As for Lapel, their defeat was their first of the season and makes their record 4-1.
The upcoming match will be a clash of competing strengths. Rushville has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 235 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Lapel has preferred to attack from the air: they average 308.8 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Rushville ended up a good deal behind Lapel in their previous meeting back in September of 2019, losing 51-36. Can Rushville avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
