The Cedar Shoals Jaguars are taking a road trip to face off against the Eastside Eagles at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Cedar Shoals has given up an average of 29.1 points per game this season, but Thursday's game will give them a chance to turn things around.
It's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 42-7, which was the final score in Cedar Shoals' tilt against Madison County on Friday. While losing is never fun, the Jaguars can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Georgia football rankings (they are ranked 310th, while the Red Raiders are ranked 131st).
Meanwhile, after only 13 points in their last contest, Eastside made sure to put some points up on the board against East Forsyth on Friday. The Eagles blew past the Broncos 42-7. With the Eagles ahead 28-7 at the half, the game was all but over already.
Cedar Shoals better keep an eye on Payton Shaw. He was instrumental in Eastside's win, rushing for 42 yards and two scores, while also throwing for 130 yards and a pair of TDs while completing 75% of his passes. Shaw's passing game has become a key predictor of the Eagles' success: the team is 3-1 when his passer rating is 110 or higher, but only 2-3 otherwise. Eastside also got a significant boost from Myles Mims, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 123 yards.
Eastside was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 239 rushing yards. They are 4-2 when they've run for more than 200 yards.
Special teams played a big role in the game for Eastside, adding 12 points to the final score. The biggest highlight from special teams (and perhaps the team as a whole) came courtesy of Amond Sands, who ran a kickoff back for a touchdown.
Eastside is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 5-4 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 10.3 points on average over those games. As for Cedar Shoals, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-8.
Cedar Shoals was dealt a bruising 62-10 loss at the hands of Eastside in their previous matchup back in October of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Mims, who rushed for 88 yards and a pair of touchdowns on only seven carries. Now that the Jaguars know the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
