The Northside Vikings are taking a road trip to challenge the Heritage Pioneers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Northside is probably headed into the match with a chip on their shoulder considering Salem just ended the team's three-game winning streak last Friday. They lost 42-21 to the Spartans. While losing is never fun, the Vikings can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Virginia football rankings (they are ranked 117th, while the Spartans are ranked 31st).
Meanwhile, Heritage has relied on a stalwart defense averaging 12 points allowed per game, but that average took a hit on Thursday. They fell 34-27 to Liberty Christian. The loss was the Pioneers' first of the season.
Despite the defeat, Heritage got top-tier performance from David Bradley, who rushed for 155 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 9.7 yards per carry. The team also got some help courtesy of Ayden Slash, who rushed for 57 yards and a touchdown.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Heritage was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 230 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 163 rushing yards in four consecutive games.
Having lost for the first time this season, Northside fell to 3-1. As for Heritage, their loss was their first of the season and also makes their record 3-1.
Northside was dealt a bruising 40-7 defeat at the hands of Heritage when the teams last played back in September of 2023. Can Northside avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
