Football Preview: Ripley Vikings vs. Roane County Raiders
Ripley and Roane County are an even 3-3 against one another since October of 2016, but not for long. The Ripley Vikings will challenge the Roane County Raiders at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Ripley is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 31.9 points per game this season.
Last Friday, Ripley earned a 23-15 win over Nicholas County. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Vikings.
The critical scores for Ripley came from Cooper Durst, Noah Casto, and Cody Lawerance.
Ripley didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. In fact, those interceptions all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Ethan Kay.
Meanwhile, Roane County put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They walked away with a 14-6 victory over North Marion. The 14-point effort marked the Raiders' lowest-scoring matchup of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
Lane Watson continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 164 yards and a touchdown while picking up 7.1 yards per carry. He showed off some serious burst, cutting through the defense on one rush that went for 67 yards.
Roane County was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 308 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 300 rushing yards in nine consecutive contests.
Roane County's win was their tenth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 9-0. As for Ripley, their record is now 7-2.
Friday's game will pit two of the most dominant backs against one another: Casto and Watson. Casto just won't slow down this season and has run in 22 touchdowns while averaging 114.1 rushing yards per game. Watson has been a dominant force too and has averaged 23.1 receiving yards per game.
Ripley was dealt a bruising 42-6 defeat at the hands of Roane County in their previous meeting back in September of 2023. Thankfully for Ripley, Brandon Richardson (who rushed for 78 yards and two touchdowns on only ten carries) 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
