After two games on the road, Heritage is heading back home. They will welcome the Liberty Lions at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Heritage is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 29.9 points per game this season.
Last Friday, Heritage didn't have quite enough to beat Antioch and fell 15-13. The defeat continues a trend for the Patriots in their matchups with the Panthers: they've now lost four in a row.
Meanwhile, Liberty was fully in charge on Friday, breezing past Freedom 42-7. With the Lions ahead 21-0 at the half, the matchup was all but over already.
It was another big night for Jaxon Bell, who rushed for 201 yards and two touchdowns on only 14 carries, and also picked up 35 receiving yards and a touchdown. He is becoming a predictor of Liberty's success: when he posts at least two rushing touchdowns the team is 5-1 (and 1-2 when he doesn't). Landon Fisher was another key back, rushing for 63 yards and a touchdown on only six carries.
Liberty was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 314 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 194 rushing yards in four consecutive contests.
Liberty has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 6-3 record this season. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 33.0 points per game. As for Heritage, their loss ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 6-3.
Friday's game will pit two of the most dominant backs against one another: Mekhi Adanandus and Bell. Adanandus just won't slow down this season and has averaged 82.4 rushing yards per game. Bell has been a dominant force too and has caught 5 touchdowns while averaging 40.7 receiving yards per game.
Heritage was dealt a bruising 52-21 defeat at the hands of Liberty in their previous meeting back in November of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Bell, who rushed for 273 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 10.5 yards per carry, and also threw for 45 yards and a touchdown. Now that Heritage knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
