Football Preview: Huntington Raiders vs. Airline Vikings
The Huntington Raiders will take on the Airline Vikings at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both might be coming in a bit winded given these two teams combined for 890 yards in their previous games.
Having struggled with three losses in a row, Huntington finally turned things around against Natchitoches Central on Friday. They walked away with a 36-25 win over the Chiefs.
Jamarion Washington continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 168 yards and two touchdowns on only 14 carries, while also picking up 91 receiving yards. Those 168 rushing yards gave him a new career-high. Nyles Hullaby was another key rusher, rushing for 92 yards and two touchdowns.
Huntington was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 330 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 152 rushing yards in eight consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, Airline put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They took down Byrd 35-21. The 35-point effort marked the Vikings' lowest-scoring game of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
Airline got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was DJ Allen out in front who rushed for 108 yards and two touchdowns on only 11 carries. The team also got some help courtesy of Kenny Darby, who picked up 128 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Airline's win was their ninth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 9-0. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 48.6 points per game. As for Huntington, they now have a winning record of 5-4.
The upcoming contest will be a clash of competing strengths. Huntington has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 279.3 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Airline has preferred to attack from the air: they average 365.7 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Thursday? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
