Football Preview: Bessemer City Yellow Jackets vs. South Stokes Sauras
The Bessemer City Yellow Jackets will be playing at home against the South Stokes Sauras at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. South Stokes took a loss in their last game and will be looking to turn the tables on Bessemer City, who comes in off a win.
Last Friday, everything came up roses for Bessemer City against Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy as the squad secured a 49-6 victory. Considering the Yellow Jackets have won five matches by more than 24 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Bessemer City's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Keon Smith, who gained 218 total yards and three touchdowns, and Gavin Chastain, who threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns while completing 73.7% of his passes. The dominant performance also gave Chastain a new career-high in rushing yards (29). Kameron Rice was another key player, picking up 113 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Another reason for the win was Bessemer City's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for seven sacks. It was truly a group effort as Jailynn Newton, Sireco Logan, and Kylei Anderson picked up two apiece. Bessemer City got some further help from Marcus Smith: he made 12 total tackles.
Meanwhile, a win for South Stokes just wasn't in the cards two weeks ago as the team wasn't able to take the lead at any point. They were outmatched by East Wilkes at home and fell 52-7. The Sauras were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 31-0.
Despite the loss, South Stokes had strong showings from Dasian Leeper, who picked up 90 receiving yards and a touchdown, and Connor Cox, who threw for 174 yards and a touchdown. Leeper really caught the secondary sleeping when he pulled down a catch that went for 73 yards.
Bessemer City is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 7-4 record this season. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 29.8 points per game. As for South Stokes, they dropped their record down to 1-9 with the defeat, which was their sixth straight at home.
Friday's contest might be decided in the trenches. Bessemer City has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 169.5 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for South Stokes, though, as they've been averaging only 59.1. How will they fare against such a dominant running game? Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more football content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
