Cleveland has won six straight games at home, while Ashley has won six straight on the road, but those streaks won't matter much on Friday. The Cleveland Rams will welcome the Ashley Screaming Eagle at 7:30 p.m. The last three games Cleveland has played have been within three points, so don't be surprised if it's a close one.
Cleveland is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past Heritage 24-21. The 24-point effort marked the Rams' lowest-scoring match of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
Cleveland got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Jackson Byrd out in front who threw for 236 yards and a touchdown, and also rushed for 51 yards and a touchdown. A healthy portion of Byrd's aerial production (133 yards to be exact) went to Malachi Thomas.
Cleveland didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Porter Bennett and Theron Batiste. Batiste is also on a roll when it comes to defended passes, as he's now defended at least one in the last six games he's played. Another thorn in Heritage's side was Cameron Melvin, who picked up a sack and made seven total tackles (3.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, Ashley hadn't done well against Laney recently (they were 0-9 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Friday. Ashley claimed a resounding 41-7 victory over Laney. The Screaming Eagle might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won five contests by 21 points or more this season.
Among those leading the charge was Jackson Eller, who threw for 130 yards and two touchdowns, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground. Bryson Lovelace helped Eller out on the ground, rushing for 62 yards and a touchdown.
Ashley was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 225 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 225 rushing yards in four consecutive matchups.
Ashley is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a nice bump to their 9-2 record this season. Those victories were due in large part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 13.9 points per game. As for Cleveland, their win bumped their record up to 11-0.
The upcoming match will be a clash of competing strengths. Cleveland has relied on air attacks this season and has averaged 291.3 passing yards per game. Ashley, on the other hand, has relied on a stout run game: they average 210.6 rushing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
