The Lakeside Panthers will take on the Effingham County Rebels at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Lakeside will be coming into the contest with an undefeated record on the line.
Last Friday, Lakeside strolled past Glynn Academy with points to spare, taking the game 28-14. The Panthers pushed the score to 28-0 by the end of the third, a deficit the Terrors cut but never quite recovered from.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Lakeside to victory, but perhaps none more so than Ty Jones, who rushed for 141 yards and a touchdown on only 12 carries, and also threw for 131 yards on only 11 passes. Jones' rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his fourth straight game with at least 101 rushing yards dating back to last season. Brandon Grissom was another key rusher, gaining 119 total yards and a touchdown.
Lakeside was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 266 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 190 rushing yards in five consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Effingham County). They simply couldn't be stopped on Friday as they easily beat South Effingham 47-0 at home. Given the Rebels' advantage in MaxPreps' Georgia football rankings (they are ranked 128th, while the Mustangs are ranked 271st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Tucker Perkins continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, throwing for 238 yards and five touchdowns while completing 86.7% of his passes. Ryan Wells was Perkins' top target, picking up 108 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Lakeside pushed their record up to 5-0 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road. As for Effingham County, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 2-3.
The upcoming matchup will be a clash of competing strengths. Lakeside has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 265 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Effingham County has preferred to attack from the air: they average 276.2 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Lakeside came up short against Effingham County in their previous matchup back in October of 2023, falling 36-31. Thankfully for Lakeside, Nate Hayes (who rushed for 122 yards and two touchdowns on only 11 carries, and also threw for 65 yards and a touchdown) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
