Football Recap: Scotland Falls Short of Jacksonville in the Playoffs

It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact Scotland can now relate to. They and the Jacksonville Cardinals were almost perfectly matched up on Friday, but they suffered a 35-34 loss. While the Fighting Scots had to settle for second, they closed the game well in the third quarter, where they outscored the Cardinals 13-8.

Mike McLean

Rushing Yards

11/21/25 @ Jacksonville	241
11/14/25 vs Terry Sanford	276
10/31/25 vs Cape Fear	122
10/24/25 vs Lumberton	60
10/17/25 @ Purnell Swett	150
+ 7 more games

Despite the loss, Scotland still got an impressive performance from Mike McLean, who rushed for 241 yards and four scores. With that strong performance, McLean is now averaging an impressive 104.6 rushing yards per game.

Leading Jacksonville to victory were Anthony Washington and Amari Pearson. Washington rushed for 128 yards and a pair of TDs on only seven carries, while Pearson rushed for 122 yards and three touchdowns on only 14 carries. Those 128 rushing yards gave Washington a new career-high.

Scotland's defeat dropped their record down to 8-4. As for Jacksonville, they pushed their record up to 11-0 with the victory, which was their ninth straight at home dating back to last season.

Scotland does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Jacksonville, they will take on Union Pines at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The Cardinals will need to watch out since the Vikings have now posted at least 31 points in their last five contests.