East Central is preparing for their first district matchup of the season on Friday. After each having a week off, they and the Purvis Tornadoes will shake off the rust and duke it out at 7:00 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
East Central blew Pass Christian out of the water the last time the pair played, but last Friday Pass Christian got their revenge. The Hornets fell just short of the Pirates by a score of 35-33. While the Hornets didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Pirates 13-7 in the first quarter.
The match pitted two dominant signal callers against one another in Maddox Dunn and Paris Trivillion. Trivillion had a great game and threw for 187 yards and three touchdowns. Meanwhile, Dunn was balling out in the loss, rushing for 192 yards and a pair of scores, while also throwing for 71 yards and one TD.
East Central didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. Dyhlan Barajas picked up that interception and then proceeded to rub salt in the wound by taking it back the other way for a touchdown. East Central got some further help from Trevor Wall: he picked up a sack, forced two fumbles, and made 12 total tackles.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Purvis). They strolled past Forrest County Agricultural with points to spare last Friday, taking the game 34-20. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Tornadoes.
Purvis' win came from a few key players East Central will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Paxton Cooper, who picked up 126 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns, and also punched in one TD on the ground. He was no stranger to the big play, lighting up the secondary with a catch that went for 56 yards. Another player making a difference was Gabe Franklin, who rushed for 101 yards and one score on only eight carries.
Purvis was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 229 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in October of 2024.
Purvis now has a winning record of 3-2. As for East Central, their defeat was their fifth straight on the road dating back to last season, which dropped their record down to 1-4.
East Central couldn't quite get it done against Purvis in their previous matchup back in September of 2016 as they fell 34-27. Will the Hornets have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other football content.
