The Albemarle Patriots will head out on the road to square off against the Western Albemarle Warriors at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Albemarle is no doubt hoping to put an end to a five-game streak of away losses dating back to last season.
Albemarle is headed into the match out to prove that what happened against Louisa County on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Albemarle had to suffer through a 59-14 loss at the hands of Louisa County. While losing is never fun, the Patriots can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Virginia football rankings (they are ranked 247th, while the Lions are ranked 104th).
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Western Albemarle). They took their matchup on Friday with ease, bagging a 62-32 victory over Charlottesville.
It was another big night for Gray Heilman, who rushed for 102 yards and two touchdowns on only six carries, and also threw for 176 yards and two touchdowns on only 15 passes. RJ Corbey was Heilman's top target, picking up 138 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Western Albemarle was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 306 rushing yards. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 61.5 rushing yards per game earlier this season, but in their last five contests they've averaged 177.
Western Albemarle has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 3-6 record this season. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 37.0 points per game. As for Albemarle, their loss dropped their record down to 2-8.
Albemarle beat Western Albemarle 38-28 in their previous matchup back in November of 2023. The rematch might be a little tougher for Albemarle 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
