The Chase Trojans will be playing in front of their home fans against the R-S Central Hilltoppers at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Chase put the finishing touches on their fourth blowout victory of the season on Thursday. They claimed a resounding 59-0 victory over Patton at home. Given Chase's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 157th, while Patton is ranked 389th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Chase can attribute much of their success to Zac Frashier, who threw for 143 yards and three touchdowns on only nine passes, and also picked up 43 receiving yards. Da'Zion Murray was another key contributor, rushing for 94 yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, R-S Central earned a 41-28 victory over Cloudland on Thursday. R-S Central pushed the score to 41-6 by the end of the third, a deficit Cloudland cut but never quite recovered from.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead R-S Central to victory, but perhaps none more so than Boone Hodge, who rushed for 100 yards and two touchdowns on only five carries. Hodge was no stranger to the big play, turning on the jets for a run that went for 58 yards. Another player making a difference was Marcus Mckinney, who rushed for 94 yards and a touchdown.
Chase's win pushed their record up to 6-3, while R-S Central's bumped their own up to the opposite: 3-6.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's matchup: Chase has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 218.6 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like R-S Central struggles in that department as they've been even better at 234.6 per game. It's looking like Friday's match might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Everything came up roses for Chase against R-S Central in their previous matchup back in October of 2022 as the team secured a 49-8 victory. Will Chase repeat their success, or does R-S Central have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
