Football Preview: East Central Hornets vs. St. Martin Yellow Jackets
The East Central Hornets will face off against the St. Martin Yellow Jackets at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. St. Martin took a loss in their last match and will be looking to turn the tables on East Central, who comes in off a win.
Having struggled with three losses in a row, East Central finally turned things around against North Pike on Friday. They took down the Jaguars 20-6. The Hornets' offense stepped up their game for this one, as that was the most points they've scored all season.
Cale Hollinghead was nothing short of spectacular: he rushed for 134 yards and three touchdowns. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in rushing yards.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to East Central's defense and their eight sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Jeffery Jackson and Lucas Smith, who racked up four sacks between them. With that strong performance, Jackson is now averaging an impressive 6 total tackles per game. Matthew Combs was another major factor on D, forcing a fumble, making 12 total tackles (1.0 for loss), and making 12 total tackles (1.0 for loss).
East Central was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 213 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 154 rushing yards in six consecutive matchups dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, St. Martin entered their game against Stone on Friday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. St. Martin took a 28-15 hit to the loss column at the hands of Stone. The Yellow Jackets gained 80 more yards on the day, but it was the Tomcats that made the best use of them.
Despite the defeat, St. Martin saw an underclassman step up: Kevin Marshall rushed for 153 yards and a touchdown, and also threw for 137 yards and a touchdown. Those 153 rushing yards set a new season-high mark for Marshall.
East Central's first victory this season bumped their record up to 1-3. As for St. Martin, their loss dropped their record down to 2-2.
Everything went East Central's way against St. Martin in their previous matchup back in September of 2023, as East Central made off with a 63-42 win. Does East Central have another victory up their sleeve, or will St. Martin turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
