Leesville Road is 4-0 against Athens Drive since September of 2014, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Leesville Road Pride will venture away from home to challenge the Athens Drive Jaguars at 7:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Leesville Road has eight straight wins, Athens Drive has five straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Last Friday, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Leesville Road beat Enloe 27-21. Given the Pride's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 38th, while the Eagles are ranked 128th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Leesville Road relied on the efforts of AkShar Barnes, who gained 104 total yards and two touchdowns, and Deiondre Goldston, who threw for 249 yards and two touchdowns while completing 86.2% of his passes.
Meanwhile, Athens Drive came up short against Broughton on Friday and fell 34-24.
Despite the defeat, Athens Drive got top-tier performance from Collin Peters, who rushed for 122 yards on only 13 carries, and also threw for 53 yards and two touchdowns. Ja'Qua Reddick also helped with two touchdowns in total.
Even though they lost, Athens Drive was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 231 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 195 rushing yards in three consecutive contests.
Leesville Road pushed their record up to 8-0 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. As for Athens Drive, their loss dropped their record down to 2-6.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's match: Leesville Road has been excellent in the air this season, having averaged 278.1 passing yards per game. It's a different story for Athens Drive, though, as they've been averaging only 85.4. How will they fare against such a dominant passing game?
Everything came up roses for Leesville Road against Athens Drive when the teams last played back in October of 2023, as the squad secured a 64-0 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Leesville Road since the team 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
