Football Preview: East Lincoln Mustangs vs. North Lincoln Knights
After three games on the road, East Lincoln is heading back home. They will welcome the North Lincoln Knights at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Last Friday, East Lincoln took their matchup with ease, bagging a 50-7 victory over North Iredell. While fans of the Mustangs might be used to big wins, the 43-point margin marked the team's biggest one yet.
It was another big night for Grant Lawless, who threw for 270 yards and four touchdowns while completing 95.2% of his passes, and also rushed for 50 yards. Tj Griffin was another key player, picking up 62 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Another reason for the win was East Lincoln's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for five sacks. Kaleb Lauffer was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up twohimself. He is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made five or more in the last five games he's played.
Meanwhile, North Lincoln came tearing into Friday's contest with three straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 28.3 points) and they left with even more momentum. They blew past the Warriors 35-14. The match was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 28-0.
Shannon Wingate continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 139 yards and a touchdown on only 14 carries. The team also got some help courtesy of Tim Folk, who rushed for 58 yards and a touchdown.
North Lincoln was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 288 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 177 rushing yards in 19 consecutive games dating back to last season.
East Lincoln pushed their record up to 7-2 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. As for North Lincoln, their victory bumped their record up to 8-1.
Friday's matchup might be decided in the on the ground. East Lincoln has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 172.3 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like North Lincoln struggles in that department as they've been averaging 330.6. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
East Lincoln came up short against North Lincoln in their previous matchup back in October of 2023, falling 13-0. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of North Lincoln's Landen Agee, who rushed for 123 yards and a touchdown. Now that East Lincoln knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
