Football Game Preview: Swansboro Pirates vs. Dixon Bulldogs

The Swansboro Pirates are taking a road trip to face off against the Dixon Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.

On Friday, Swansboro and West Carteret were almost perfectly matched up, but Swansboro suffered a 26-25 loss. While the Pirates didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Patriots 15-6 in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, Dixon lost to West Carteret on the road by a 67-51 margin last Friday. The defeat continues a trend for the Bulldogs in their meetings with the Patriots: they've now lost five in a row.

Swansboro will have to contain JJ Gulat as he made an impact in Dixon's last game. He rushed for 371 yards and five TDs while picking up 12.4 yards per carry. Gulat's rushing production has been exceptional for a while as that marked his 11th straight game with at least 103 rushing yards dating back to last season. The team also got some help courtesy of Sean Delaney, who rushed for 136 yards and one touchdown on only nine carries.

Having lost for the first time this season, Dixon fell to 4-1. As for Swansboro, their loss dropped their record down to 2-4.

Swansboro suffered a grim 37-15 defeat to Dixon in their previous meeting back in October of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Gulat, who rushed for 201 yards and three scores while picking up 7.7 yards per carry. Now that the Pirates know the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.