Elbert County has been on the road for two straight, but on Friday they'll finally head home. They will welcome the Commerce Tigers at 7:30 p.m. Elbert County will be strutting in after a victory while Commerce will be coming in after a defeat.
Elbert County will head into Friday's game on the come-up: they were handed a three-point loss in their last match, but they sure didn't let that happen against Oglethorpe County on Friday. Elbert County blew past Oglethorpe County, posting a 46-13 win on the road. Given the Blue Devils' advantage in MaxPreps' Georgia football rankings (they are ranked 191st, while the Patriots are ranked 407th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Jacari Barnett was nothing short of spectacular: he rushed for 169 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 9.9 yards per carry. That's the most rushing yards he has posted since back in November of 2023. Another player making a difference was Jayvyn Hickman, who rushed for 101 yards on only seven carries.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Elbert County was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 402 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Commerce was just a hair shy of victory on Friday and fell 29-28 to Athens Academy. The Tigers haven't had much luck with the Spartans recently, as the team's come up short the last three times they've met.
Elbert County's victory bumped their record up to 2-3. As for Commerce, they now also have a losing record at 2-3.
Elbert County took a serious blow against Commerce in their previous meeting back in October of 2023, falling 49-21. That matchup was all but decided by halftime, at which point Elbert County was down 35-7.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
