The North Iredell Raiders will be defending their home-field for the first time for the first time when they go up against the Starmount Rams at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
North Iredell is headed into their home opener looking to turn things around after opening their season on the road. They lost 35-14 to South Iredell on Friday. The loss leaves the Raiders without a win on the season.
Meanwhile, Starmount never let their opponents score on Friday. They claimed a resounding 43-0 victory over Trinity on the road.
Starmount relied on the efforts of Jymir Billips, who rushed for 50 yards and three touchdowns, and Luke Collins, who rushed for 88 yards and two touchdowns on only nine carries. KJ Allen got in on the action too, returning a kick for a touchdown.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Starmount was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 299 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 172 rushing yards in five consecutive games dating back to last season.
North Iredell couldn't quite finish off Starmount in their previous meeting back in August of 2023 and fell 32-29. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Starmount's Kinston Crater, who rushed for 112 yards and two touchdowns, and also threw for 25 yards and a touchdown on only two passes. Now that North Iredell knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
