The Sycamore War Eagles will face off against the Maplewood Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Sycamore is coming into the game on a three-game losing streak.
Last Thursday, Sycamore had to suffer through a 48-20 loss at the hands of White House-Heritage. The War Eagles were down 42-13 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Maplewood). They claimed a resounding 54-0 win over Glencliff at home. The high-scoring effort was just what the Panthers needed considering they were shutout in their previous match.
Maplewood found their leader in underclassman Jayon Washington, who rushed for 64 yards and two touchdowns on only eight carries, and also threw for 99 yards and two touchdowns while completing 80% of his passes. The dominant performance gave Washington a new career-high in rushing yards. Another player making a difference was Christian Beatie, who rushed for 61 yards and two touchdowns.
Maplewood's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. In fact, those interceptions all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Antonio Batey. Jaylan Strong was another major factor on D, picking up 0.5 sacks, forcing a fumble, and making nine total tackles (2.5 for loss).
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Maplewood was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 242 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Sycamore's loss dropped their record down to 2-4. As for Maplewood, their victory bumped their record up to 2-3.
Sycamore strolled past Maplewood when the teams last played back in September of 2023 by a score of 47-28. Will Sycamore repeat their success, or does Maplewood have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
