Football Preview: Newberry Academy vs. Laurens Academy Crusaders
Newberry Academy is 0-10 against Laurens Academy since October of 2015 but things could change on Friday. Newberry Academy will challenge the Laurens Academy Crusaders at 7:30 p.m. Newberry Academy will be hoping to continue their three-game streak of scoring more points each game than the last.
Newberry Academy is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of South Carolina's top teams: Oakbrook Prep, who was ranked 12th in their home state at the time (Newberry Academy was ranked eighth). Newberry Academy came out on top against Oakbrook Prep by a score of 36-28 on Friday. Newberry Academy's offense stepped up their game for this one, as that was the most points they've scored all season.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Laurens Academy, who bounced back after a loss on the road two weeks ago. They enjoyed a cozy 52-36 win over King Academy on Friday.
Laurens Academy's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Garrett Murphy led the charge by rushing for 258 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 10.8 yards per carry. The dominant performance gave Murphy a new career-high in rushing yards. The team also got some help courtesy of Caleb Hardy, who gained 193 total yards and three touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Laurens Academy was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 397 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 219 rushing yards in six consecutive matches.
Newberry Academy's record now sits at 2-3. As for Laurens Academy, their record now sits at 4-2.
Newberry Academy lost to Laurens Academy on the road by a decisive 42-25 margin when the teams last played back in August. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Laurens Academy's Ethan Collins, who threw for 198 yards and three touchdowns, and also rushed for 87 yards and a touchdown on only ten carries. Now that Newberry Academy knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
