The New Hanover Wildcats will take on the Heritage Huskies at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Heritage took a loss in their last contest and will be looking to turn the tables on New Hanover, who comes in off a win.
New Hanover not only won on Friday, but they posted their biggest win since August 29th (when they won 41-0). They were the clear victors by a 35-14 margin over Topsail. The matchup was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 21-0.
Tony Clark-Nelson produced another solid effort rushing for 117 yards and two scores on only eight carries. He has become a key player for New Hanover: the team is 3-1 when he posts at least 80 rushing yards, but 2-4 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Tanahri Johnson, who threw for 146 yards and one touchdown.
New Hanover's run defense was locked in: Topsail could only muster -0.8 yards per carry. The team can thank Jayden George for the heroic effort on defense: he. New Hanover's run defense has been on the up-and-up: they allowed 4.31 yards per carry earlier this season, but they've only allowed 5.7 on average over their last five games.
Jayden George
| 10/31/25 vs Topsail | 10 |
| 10/24/25 @ Laney | 2 |
| 10/17/25 vs Ashley | 3 |
| 10/10/25 @ West Brunswick | 3 |
| 10/03/25 vs Hoggard | 5 |
| + 5 more games |
New Hanover's defense also made the game a nightmare for the opposing QB, racking up 7.5 sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Tully Dunne and George, who racked up six sacks between them. With that strong performance, George is now averaging an impressive 5.3 total tackles per game.
Meanwhile, Heritage played a tough game on Friday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They lost 24-3 to Wake Forest. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last four times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.
New Hanover will have to contain Cole Perry as he made an impact in Heritage's last game. He rushed for 75 yards, and also threw for 169 yards on 12 of 26 attempts.
New Hanover has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 5-5 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 30.8 points over those games. As for Heritage, the defeat snapped their winning streak at three games and leaves them with a 4-6 record.
