After two games on the road, Hephzibah is heading back home. They will square off against the Harlem Bulldogs at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Having struggled with seven defeats in a row, Hephzibah finally turned things around against Cross Creek on Tuesday. They narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past the Razorbacks 28-26.
Reante Byrd continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 142 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.5 yards per carry. His rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his third straight game with at least 142 rushing yards.
Meanwhile, Harlem had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 25.3 points) and they went ahead and made it four on Tuesday. Everything went their way against the Musketeers as they made off with a 35-14 victory. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 21-0.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Harlem to victory, but perhaps none more so than Finn Martin, who rushed for 136 yards while picking up 7.6 yards per carry. Keaton Tillery was another key player, rushing for 43 yards and two touchdowns.
Harlem was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 303 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since the start of last season.
On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Harlem's defense and their five sacks. Leading the way was Ollie Batten with two.
Hephzibah's win ended a three-game drought on the road and puts them at 2-7. As for Harlem, their record now sits at 8-1.
Saturday's matchup will pit two of the most dominant backs against one another: Byrd and Malik Tyler. Byrd just won't slow down this season and has run in 13 touchdowns while averaging 156.6 rushing yards per game. Tyler has been a dominant force too and has run in 9 touchdowns while averaging 99.6 rushing yards per game.
Hephzibah might still be hurting after the 41-20 loss they got from Harlem when the teams last played back in October of 2023. That game was all but decided by halftime, at which point Hephzibah was down 28-7.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
