The Riverside Panthers will be playing at home against the Mt. Pleasant Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the pair posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Riverside stacked a seventh blowout onto their ever-increasing hoard on Friday. They took their game at home with ease, bagging a 48-14 win over Milan. Winning may never get old, but Riverside sure are getting used to it with their third in a row.
Riverside had a senior duo take command as Desmond Thomas rushed for 184 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 8.4 yards per carry and Stone Wallace rushed for 90 yards and two touchdowns on only eight carries. Matthew Wyatt made the highlight reel by snagging an interception and taking it all the way to the house.
Meanwhile, after a string of three wins, Mt. Pleasant's good fortune finally ran out on Friday. They took a 56-52 hit to the loss column at the hands of Loretto. Despite running the score up even higher than they did two weeks ago (35), Mt. Pleasant still had to take the loss.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Jakyri Mcclure, who rushed for 169 yards and a touchdown while picking up 9.4 yards per carry, and also picked up 53 receiving yards. Mcclure's longest rush was for an incredible 70 yards. The team also got some help courtesy of Nick Brown, who threw for 420 yards and six touchdowns while picking up 15.6 yards per attempt.
Riverside's win was their fourth straight at home, bumping their overall record up to 8-2. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 47.0 points per game. As for Mt. Pleasant, their loss dropped their record down to 8-2.
Friday's matchup might be decided on the ground as these two are both standouts in the run game. Riverside has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 262.5 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Mt. Pleasant struggles in that department as they've been averaging 156.8 per game. It's looking like Friday's game might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Riverside didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Mt. Pleasant in their previous matchup back in November of 2022, but they still walked away with a 18-13 win. Does Riverside have another victory up their sleeve, or will Mt. Pleasant turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
