Ben L. Smith hasn't had much luck against Dudley recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Ben L. Smith Golden Eagles will be playing at home against the Dudley Panthers at 7:00 p.m. The two teams have allowed few points on average, (Ben L. Smith: 14, Dudley: 1.4) so any points scored will be well earned.
Ben L. Smith is headed into Friday's matchup looking for a big change in momentum after dropping their third straight game on Friday. They fell just short of Rockingham County by a score of 9-6. The contest marked the Golden Eagles' lowest-scoring match so far this season.
Meanwhile, Dudley put another one in the bag on Saturday to keep their perfect season alive. They blew past Atkins, posting a 48-0 victory at home. The Panthers' defense has been rock solid lately; the team hasn't given up a point in their last four games.
The match pitted two key players against one another: Andrew Rogers and Garrison Dibble. Rogers had a great game and picked up two sacks, made six total tackles (3.0 for loss), and defended four passes. Meanwhile, Dibble was balling out in the loss, picking up three sacks and making 19 total tackles (5.0 for loss).
Dudley's defense made their presence known, laying out James Singletary. six times. Rogers was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up two sackshimself. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 1.2 defended passes per game. Jordyn Ratliff was another major factor on D, picking up 1.5 sacks, forcing a fumble, and making six total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Dudley was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 339 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 219 rushing yards in four consecutive matchups.
Ben L. Smith now has a losing record at 2-3. As for Dudley, their win was their 11th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 5-0.
Ben L. Smith was dealt a bruising 77-6 loss at the hands of Dudley in their previous matchup back in September of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Dudley's LJ Southern, who rushed for 152 yards and two touchdowns, and also picked up 43 receiving yards and a touchdown. Now that Ben L. Smith 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
