After each having a week off, the West Johnston Wildcats and the Fike Demons will dust off their jerseys to take on one another at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Having both just faced considerable losses, both teams are looking to turn things around.
West Johnston's offense might be in the hot seat on Friday considering what happened against Cleveland last Friday. They were beaten by the Rams 47-0. While losing is never fun, the Wildcats can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 219th, while the Rams are ranked eighth).
Meanwhile, Fike took a blow against Southern Nash last Friday, falling 58-24. The Demons were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 38-6.
Fike's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Cameron Pittman, who rushed for 100 yards and a touchdown, and Josiah Artis, who picked up 89 receiving yards and three touchdowns. The dominant performance gave Pittman a new career-high in rushing yards. Fike also got a significant boost from Jerimiah Peart, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 87 yards.
Having lost for the first time this season, West Johnston fell to 2-1. As for Fike, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 1-2.
Friday's match might be decided in the trenches. West Johnston has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 155.7 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Fike struggles in that department as they've been averaging 183.7. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
West Johnston came out on top in a nail-biter against Fike in their previous matchup back in September of 2023, sneaking past 10-7. The rematch might be a little tougher for West Johnston since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
