Football Preview: Lakeside Panthers vs. Effingham County Rebels
The Lakeside Panthers will square off against the Effingham County Rebels at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Lakeside will be coming into the contest with an undefeated record on the line.
Last Friday, Lakeside didn't have too much trouble with Glynn Academy on the road as they won 28-14. The Panthers pushed the score to 28-0 by the end of the third, a deficit the Terrors cut but never quite recovered from.
Lakeside's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Ty Jones led the charge by rushing for 141 yards and a touchdown on only 12 carries, while also throwing for 131 yards on only 11 passes. Jones' rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his fourth straight game with at least 101 rushing yards dating back to last season. Brandon Grissom was another key rusher, gaining 119 total yards and a touchdown.
Lakeside was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 266 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 190 rushing yards in five consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Effingham County). They really took it to South Effingham for the full four quarters, racking up a 47-0 victory at home. Given the Rebels' advantage in MaxPreps' Georgia football rankings (they are ranked 128th, while the Mustangs are ranked 271st), the result on Friday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Tucker Perkins was his usual excellent self, throwing for 238 yards and five touchdowns while completing 86.7% of his passes. Ryan Wells was Perkins' top target, picking up 108 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Lakeside pushed their record up to 5-0 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. As for Effingham County, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 2-3.
The upcoming matchup will be a clash of competing strengths. Lakeside has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 265 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Effingham County has preferred to attack from the air: they average 276.2 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Lakeside came up short against Effingham County in their previous meeting back in October of 2023, falling 36-31. Thankfully for Lakeside, Nate Hayes (who rushed for 122 yards and two touchdowns on only 11 carries, and also threw for 65 yards and a touchdown) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
