The New Hanover Wildcats will head out on the road to face off against the Hoggard Vikings at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
New Hanover never got on the board in their matchup two weeks ago, but that sure wasn't the case in their game against West Brunswick last Friday. They took their match at home with ease, bagging a 42-6 win over the Trojans. New Hanover pushed the score to 42-0 by the end of the third, a deficit West Brunswick cut but never quite recovered from.
New Hanover can attribute much of their success to Caleb Robles, who threw for 153 yards and two touchdowns while completing 75% of his passes, and Caden Morton, who rushed for 93 yards and two touchdowns on only eight carries. ZYMIR BATTS also helped out with an impressive 90 receiving yards.
Meanwhile, Hoggard had already won seven in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 33.3 points), and they went ahead and made it eight on Friday. They claimed a resounding 56-0 win over South Brunswick on the road. Given Hoggard's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 12th, while South Brunswick is ranked 241st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Hoggard relied on the efforts of M?kel Bellamy, who rushed for 63 yards and three touchdowns, and Hudson Wilharm, who threw for 250 yards and three touchdowns while completing 75% of his passes. The team also got some help courtesy of Blake Edwards, who picked up 94 receiving yards and a touchdown.
New Hanover now has a winning record of 5-4. As for Hoggard, their win was their eighth straight on the road, which bumped their overall record up to 8-1.
New Hanover came out on top in a nail-biter against Hoggard in their previous matchup back in October of 2022, sneaking past 10-7. The rematch might be a little tougher for New Hanover since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
