Valley Head was looking to beat Appalachian like they did the last time the pair played, but Valley Head didn't take Braden Gilliland into account. The Appalachian Eagles walked away with a 41-34 win over the Valley Head Tigers on Friday thanks in part to Gilliland, who rushed for 208 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 7.2 yards per carry. His rushing production has been exceptional for a while as that marked his 11th straight game with at least 101 rushing yards dating back to last season.
Gilliland was just one part of a punishing run game: Appalachian was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 308 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 154 rushing yards in 11 consecutive contests dating back to last season.
Appalachian didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Sam Stidham and Will Armstrong.
Despite the loss, Valley Head still got an impressive performance from Tytan Blevins, who rushed for 343 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 14.9 yards per carry, and also threw for 74 yards and a touchdown on only seven passes. The dominant performance gave Blevins a new career-high in rushing yards.
Appalachian is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven matches, which provided a nice bump to their 8-2 record this season. As for Valley Head, their defeat dropped their record down to 6-3.
Appalachian will get to enjoy the win for a while: their next game is against Donoho at 7:00 p.m. on November 8th. As for Valley Head, a feisty cat fight will be fought when Tigers dukes it out withCollinsville at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. They are coming into the matchup with three straight victories at home, so Valley Head will have to stop a squad with plenty of momentum.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
