Football Preview: Hammond Tornadoes vs. Mandeville Skippers
Hammond is 1-9 against Mandeville since October of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Hammond Tornadoes will head out on the road to challenge the Mandeville Skippers at 7:00 p.m. Hammond is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 28.2 points per game this season.
Hammond will head out to face Mandeville after giving up their first home loss of the season on Friday. Hammond was beaten by St. Paul's 45-13. It was the first time this season that the Tornadoes let down their fans at home.
Despite the loss, Hammond got top-tier performance from Zalen Bennett, who rushed for 133 yards on only 15 carries. Speaking of playmakers, who could forget Reginald Monroe, who went all the way with a kickoff return for a touchdown.
Meanwhile, Mandeville is still undefeated this season after their contest against Covington on Friday, but Covington came as close as anyone has to beating them. Mandeville narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past Covington 35-33. The 35-point effort marked the Skippers' lowest-scoring matchup of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
Nate Sheppard continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 257 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 8.9 yards per carry. His rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his sixth straight game with at least 126 rushing yards dating back to last season.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Mandeville was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 367 rushing yards. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved they're rushing yard total in three consecutive matches.
Mandeville didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. In fact, those interceptions all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Michael White.
Hammond moved to 4-2 with that defeat, which also ended their four-game winning streak. As for Mandeville, their victory was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 6-0.
Friday's game might be decided in the on the ground. Hammond has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 185.5 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Mandeville struggles in that department as they've been averaging 266.8. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Hammond took a serious blow against Mandeville in their previous matchup back in October of 2023, falling 44-6. That matchup was all but decided by halftime, at which point Hammond was down 23-0.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
