Elmore County is 1-0 against Valley since October of 2022, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Elmore County Panthers will be playing in front of their home fans against the Valley Rams at 4:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Elmore County had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 25 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. They put the hurt on Beauregard with a sharp 27-7 win.
Elmore County's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Cade Everson led the charge by rushing for 68 yards and a touchdown. Caleb Spivey also helped with two touchdowns in total.
Valley never got on the board in their last matchup, but that sure wasn't the case in their game against Tallassee last Thursday. Valley took their game at home with ease, bagging a 48-14 win over Tallassee. Given Valley's advantage in MaxPreps' Alabama football rankings (they are ranked 77th, while Tallassee is ranked 227th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Valley can attribute much of their success to Cam?ron Dooley, who rushed for 100 yards and two touchdowns on only five carries, and Tilyn Carrell, who rushed for 250 yards and three touchdowns on only 14 carries.
Elmore County's win was their fourth straight on the road, which bumped their overall record up to 6-1. That said, the team wasn't facing the toughest opposition over that stretch, as it included 0-8 Sylacauga and 1-7 Tallassee (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 20.5% over those games). Valley has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 5-2 record this season.
Friday's contest might be decided on the ground as these two are both standouts in the run game. Elmore County has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 219.7 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Valley struggles in that department as they've been averaging 198.7 per game. It's looking like Friday's game might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Elmore County didn't have too much breathing room in their matchup against Valley in their previous meeting back in October of 2022, but they still walked away with a 17-13 win. Will Elmore County repeat their success, or does Valley have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
