Football Preview: Holliday Eagles vs. Blue Ridge Tigers
Two dominant signal callers in Hunter Jones and Micah Dickerson are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Holliday Eagles will take on the Blue Ridge Tigers at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Holliday is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They took their contest with ease, bagging an 85-7 win over Dublin. The Eagles' offense stepped up their game for this one, as that was the most points they've scored all season.
It was another big night for Jones, who threw for 463 yards and seven touchdowns while completing 73.7% of his passes, and also punched in two touchdowns on the ground. He has been hot , having posted three or more passing touchdowns the last six times he's played. Steele Skinner also helped with three touchdowns in total.
Meanwhile, Blue Ridge had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 27.5 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Thursday. They breezed by the Bulldogs to the tune of 72-21. That looming 72-21 mark stands out as the most commanding margin for the Tigers yet this season.
Ryder Clayton was his usual excellent self, picking up 133 receiving yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for 76 yards and a touchdown. He showed off some serious burst, lighting up the secondary with a catch for 66 yards. Dickerson was another key player, throwing for 183 yards and four touchdowns on only 12 passes.
Blue Ridge was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 259 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 171 rushing yards in seven consecutive matchups.
Blue Ridge didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Gage Branch and Caleb Gaddis.
Blue Ridge has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a nice bump to their 9-2 record this season. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 48.7 points per game. As for Holliday, they pushed their record up to 9-2 with the victory, which was their fourth straight at home.
The upcoming match will be a clash of competing strengths. Holliday has relied on air attacks this season and has averaged 275.9 passing yards per game. Blue Ridge, on the other hand, has relied on a stout run game: they average 204.2 rushing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
