After having lost a blowout in their previous game against South Spencer, North Central was happy to have turned things around on Friday. They put the hurt on the Eastern Greene Thunderbirds with a sharp 43-20 victory. The high-flying offensive performance was a huge turnaround for North Central considering their seven-point performance the matchup before.
Travaughn Cockrell continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 186 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 11.6 yards per carry. Another player making a difference was Hayden Schultz, who threw for 196 yards and two touchdowns on only 16 passes.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, North Central was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 331 rushing yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Eastern Greene only rushed for 83.
Loss or not, Eastern Greene got some senior leadership from Kasen Cullison and Peyton Lewis. Cullison picked up 158 receiving yards and four touchdowns, while Lewis threw for 180 yards and four touchdowns on only 12 passes. Those 158 receiving yards set a new season-high mark for Cullison.
North Central's record is now 3-6. As for Eastern Greene, this is the second loss in a row for them and also nudges their season record down to 3-6.
Both are set to take part in some playoff action in their next matches. It'll be Battle of the Birds when Thunderbirds challenges North Vermillion at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. They will roll in looking for their fifth straight win, something North Central surely won't give up without a fight. As for Eastern Greene, they are on the road again on Friday to play Greenwood Christian Academy at 7:00 p.m. Greenwood Christian Academy knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 31 points or more in their past six games -- so hopefully Eastern Greene likes a good challenge.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
