A feisty cat fight will be fought when Lions dukes it out withthe Plano East Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. They took a loss in their last game and will be looking to turn the tables on McKinney, who comes in off a win.
McKinney's defense heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They breezed by McKinney Boyd to the tune of 27-0. Given the Lions' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 118th, while the Broncos are ranked 341st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
McKinney's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Ja'Bree Bickham, who picked up 76 receiving yards, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground. Julian Joseph was another key rusher, rushing for 63 yards and a touchdown on only eight carries.
McKinney was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 261 rushing yards. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 94.5 rushing yards per game earlier this season, but in their last four matchups they've averaged 167.2.
Meanwhile, Plano East came up short against Plano on Friday and fell 34-24. While the Panthers didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Wildcats 14-7 in the first quarter.
Despite the defeat, Plano East had strong showings from Jackson Howard, who picked up 100 receiving yards and two touchdowns, and Jackson Hays, who threw for 205 yards and two touchdowns. Plano East also got a significant boost from Travis Agee, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 84 yards.
McKinney has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season. As for Plano East, their loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 6-2.
We should be in store for an exciting game as both have no problem gaining yardage. McKinney has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 352.5 total yards per game. However, it's not like Plano East struggles in that department as they've been averaging 365. With a pair of commanding offenses duking it out, the defenses are going to have their work cut out for them.
McKinney didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Plano East in their previous matchup back in October of 2019, but they still walked away with a 28-23 victory. Will McKinney repeat their success, or does Plano East have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
